At the 2017 Oscars, when “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as the best picture winner over “Moonlight,” then first-term President Donald Trump blamed the epic blunder on Hollywood’s fixation with him. He suggested that the stars were too distracted by criticizing his administration to properly reveal the final award of the night.
“They were focused so hard on politics that they didn’t get the act together at the end. It was a little sad. It took away from the glamour of the Oscars,” Trump said in an interview back in February 2017, about a month after his first inauguration.
Mobilizing against Trump seemed en vogue during Hollywood’s first award season after the 2016 election, as many artists vocalized their opposition to White House policies at the time. (Meryl Streep’s speech at the 2017 Golden Globes prompted Trump to call her “one of the most overrated actresses” in Hollywood.)
Sunday’s Academy Awards, arriving five weeks after the start of Trump’s second term, are poised to be less political. Make no mistake, the president likely has few fans in the room of A-listers who will gather in the Dolby Theater. But talk of Trump has waned at recent entertainment events.
With the backdrop of devastating fires that ravaged Los Angeles, award season this year has been centered around coming together. The Grammys set the tone as the first show to air after the wildfires, the SAG Awards followed with a focus on first responders and the Oscars are also set to raise funds towards fire relief efforts.
This year’s Oscars host – Conan O’Brien – may be the most obvious deviation from a Trump-infused ceremony that was all but guaranteed with former host Jimmy Kimmel, who emceed twice during Trump’s first term and two more times as Trump was campaigning for reelection.
