The 91st Annual Academy Awards had some surprises when it came to winners. The Best Soundtrack winner, an audio clip published by the New Yorker of Harvey Weinstein pressuring a woman to come to his hotel room, was considered by many to be too palatable. Some critics argued that the Access Hollywood tape in which “The Apprentice” host Donald Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women was a better depiction of misogyny and and sexual harassment.
Harvey Weinstein saw many victories throughout the night. He was a shoo-in for the award for Best Set Design, specifically for his masterful creations of fake hotel lobbies into which aspiring actresses were often lured. To no surprise, his “assistant,” who had many brilliant performances involving tricking young women into going to private hotel suites where they were harassed by Weinstein, won Best Supporting Actress. During his acceptance speech for the Best Picture award, Weinstein made a confusing allusion to a possible future career in rap music, saying, “I will be spitting bars for a long time.” In a brilliant piece of investigative journalism, I, Ronan Farrow (age 31), discovered that he would in fact be “sitting behind bars for a very long time.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night came when Aziz Ansari won Best Short Film. His film involved a semi-consensual sexual encounter with a woman. Ansari himself seemed surprised, and generously called disgraced actor and undeserving representative of the gay community, Kevin Spacey, up on stage with him to share the award. Spacey’s film, also a nominee, documented his drunken, aggressive experiences with young boys.
Co-hosts Matt Lauer and Les Moonves kept the tone light and accommodating throughout the night, making repeated references to the edginess of many of the nominated films and their ability to “get away with stuff” while remaining powerful. Some felt that the hosts “went too far” when they mocked Lifetime Achievement winner Bill Cosby for the jail time he will serve. Former Democratic Senator Al Franken chimed in on Twitter about the joke, saying, “The joke tried to create a culture of accountability where there shouldn’t be one.”
Ronan Farrow’s story on the Weinstein accusations can be read here: