Oscars, who want to avoid politics, choose sides in favor of old-fashioned escapism

America may be deeply divided, but according to the organizers, politics and culture wars will not be the focus of this year’s Oscars.

“We’re not interested in distractions or partisan discussions, we’re interested in Tom Cruise,” a 95er^e An Oscar insider says she says about the weekend’s superstar and blockbuster show.

“This year we want to celebrate the diversity of talent and nominees and try to go back to the days of the breakout,” adds an AMPAS source of the dual ethos of Jimmy Kimmel’s 2023 shindig. Escape can be a tough sell with Netflix’s anti-war film No news from the western front in the voting for best picture and other categories, but the Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss-produced show aims to remain mostly politically agnostic and controversy-free, we hear.

Officially, the academy has not commented on what role politics may or may not play at this year’s Oscars.

The fact of the matter is, despite a press release from some industry heavyweights, the ABC show will once again be one of the few awards shows without an appearance from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Russia’s invasion of his country. Oscar vet Joe Biden isn’t stopping either, although he’s in Southern California early next week.

After last year’s on-stage fiasco against Chris Rock at the hands of Best Actor winner and now ex-AMPAS member Will Smith, the Academy and producers plan to run a tight, movie-focused ship this weekend. Or as one well-placed participant put it: “Things went wrong last year, didn’t they? This year we want to literally watch the award.”

Aside from the shocked handshakes heard around the world, it’s a departure from most of the past few years, when outrage and disdain for Donald Trump often got more airtime than nominees and winners at the Oscars and almost every other awards show . As for host Kimmel, the late-night frontman is still fine-tuning his opening monologue about 35 hours before the Oscars begin. However, unless intervening events warrant it, Kimmel’s opening piece will contain only cursory political references.

From the dark depths of the Vietnam War to Michael Moore’s victory speeches to the Trump days, the Oscars have struggled for decades with the ceremony leading to polarizing issues. As blue as Hollywood can be in public and as red as Tinseltown behind closed doors, those unscripted, sharp onstage comments over the years have mostly come from hosts and winners, who benefit from the global platform the show continues to entertain. Outside the direct control of the network and producers, with soundtracks often the only suffocating refuge, the constant political statements of stars brought the Oscars and Hollywood ridicule and rejection from conservative America.

In the past decade alone, there have been Oscars where activism has been a feature rather than a bug.

Joe Biden presented at the Oscars when he was vice president when his office used the 88th Academy Awards in 2016 as an opportunity to talk about preventing sexual abuse on campus and introduce Lady Gaga. Three years earlier, First Lady Michelle Obama hosted Best Picture after she and her husband hosted several current Oscar nominees for White House events.

During Trump’s years in office, the then-president himself went to great lengths to call the ceremony irrelevant in the face of declining ratings, certainly targeting Hollywood’s leftist leanings. With his MAGA policy at a 2020 campaign event, Trump blew the Best Picture winner right up. parasitepartly because it originates from South Korea.

Although First Lady Jill Biden performed at the Grammys last month, her husband almost certainly will not return to the Academy Awards this year, Coastal sources say, although Biden will be close. The day after the Oscars, the president will travel to San Diego to meet with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. President Biden will travel to Monterey Park, the site of a mass shooting earlier this year, on Tuesday to discuss efforts to reduce gun violence. POTUS leaves the City of Angels and then travels to Sin City, Las Vegas.

Even without a president or two at the Dolby Theater, this year’s show has no illusions that it can dispel that partisan perception overnight. With big hits Top Gun: Maverick, elvis And Avatar: the way of water to compete like this No news from the western front And Everything everywhere at once In the top categories, the practical hope is that Red State America and Hollywood itself will pick up on the changing timbre of the Oscars.

“Telling A-list talent not to do something almost guarantees they will, right?” said the ceremony insider, who emphasized that there is no policy on what presenters and winners can and cannot say. “But (we) hope everyone recognizes and respects the tone we’re trying to set this year.”