By Kyle Jorrey
Opinions Editor
Four hours and 16 minutes.
That’s how long last week’s Oscars lasted.
Two.
That’s the number of times Hollywood’s elite found it in their hearts to mention the events of Sept. 11 and recognize the war effort in Afghanistan. And of those two, one, made by superstar actor Tom Cruise, was used to preempt the heartfelt statement — “We need Hollywood now more than ever.” Oh, how touching.
What we really need now is to support the thousands of young American men and women fighting to rid the world of terrorism in Afghanistan. That’s what we really need, unless of course Hollywood has some secret plan to catch Bin Laden that we don’t know about. That’s unlikely, to say the least.
Acceptance speech after acceptance speech went by without even the slightest reference to the events just seven months ago and the war being fought at the exact same moment they received their Oscar. It’s as if it never even happened.
The Academy Awards is an event that reaches millions of viewers from across the world. On this global stage, one might have thought Hollywood’s best and brightest would find it in their hearts to send some kind words to the troops. Yes, the same troops who are fighting and dying to protect these pompous, self-absorbed performers so they can have their Academy Awards. One word comes to mind — ungrateful.
They thanked God, their parents, their spouses, their publicists, their lawyers and even their fellow actors, but not a word for the heroes of Sept. 11 or the troops who are still fighting the cause. Would it have hurt the Academy to work in one police officer or one firefighter into the four long hours we were forced to watch Hollywood celebrate how great it is?
But no, we saw nothing, except the back of Whoopi Goldberg’s dress with the initials NYPD and FDNY as the event closed. I think it was an absolute disgrace for the many Americans who were watching the event who lost a loved one that day in September or during our six-month campaign in Afghanistan.
We always hear actors and actresses telling us how they have such big hearts, how they care about world issues and how they use their positions to help spread positive messages to the world. Yet the only message they spread last night was how naïve if they are, and the only thing big they showed was their egos.
If these Hollywood stars would take the time to step outside their gated mansions in Bel Air and focus their attention away from how much money they have, they’d notice that a war was going on, and that Americans are dying. There was no better time than Oscar night to show their support, and they missed a wonderful opportunity that they won’t get again.
Let’s not forget we wouldn’t have Halle Berry, we wouldn’t have Hollywood, we wouldn’t even have movies to go and watch if not for the actions of our military over the past 200 years. We need Hollywood, Mr. Cruise? No, we need Americans willing to sacrifice their lives to defend a country and an ideal much greater than themselves. That’s who we should be grateful for.
While this year’s Oscar’s will be remembered as the year the Academy broke the color barrier, in my mind it will be remembered as the year Hollywood showed us just how self-absorbed in their own lives they can actually be. The year they turned their backs on the people they should appreciate the most.
So, to make up for their blunder, let me say thank you to all the heroes of Sept. 11 and thank you to the U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Hollywood might not be thinking of you, but we certainly are.
March 28, 2002