"Once upon a time, Hollywood was synonymous with elegance and class"

She must be higher than Robert Downey, Jr., John Barrymore, Drew Barrymore, Lindsay Lohan, River Phoenix, David Hasselhoff, Farrah Fawcett, Heath Ledger, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Errol Flynn, Oliver Reed, W.C. Fields AND William Holden.

Or she was promised an exclusive for favors performed.

...tabloid culture has leaked its way into even the highest tier of entertainment.

So now the Golden Globes are the "highest tier of entertainment?" I thought they were a third-rate awards show whose only value was in setting the odds for the Oscars.

Seriously, Hollywood spends more time and effort patting itself on the back than it does making quality entertainment. Gervais spoke more truth than Hollywood cares to admit. Now sit back, shut up, and watch the latest superhero movie.

Hollywood has never actually been "synonymous with elegance and class," but it has always liked to think it is. Hollywood puts up a good front, but how many sordid scandals have come out of Hollywood over the years?

Gog named several actors famous for their booze- and/or drug-filled ways. He forgot a few, but if he'd included all of them, he'd still be typing that list into 2021. Let's add a few murder scandals - Natalie Wood, Thomas Ince, George Reeve, Bob Crane, Black Dahlia, and Charles Manson, just to name a few.

As for "less time in school than Greta Thunberg," that comment left a mark. While time in school should not be the standard by which we judge someone, it is telling that a large percentage of the actors who spent any time in post-secondary education spent that time in theater, arts, literature, or drama programs. Hedy Lamarr, Mayim Bialik, and Danica McKellar aside, Hollywood is not exactly awash with STEM sophisticates.

This kind of response isn't unexpected.

For years, the Hollywood "elites" have spoken that way about Bush, Republicans, and middle America. Just think of DeNero's "Fuck Trump." And none of them even batted an eye.

Now, suddenly someone speaks that way about them and they are suddenly clutching pearls?!

Piss on them! His jokes were funny precisely because they were true.

"It sends out the message that Hollywood is a place with no morals or respect, where true talent can be exchanged for a few expletives and where the big issues hide in the corner while the village idiot dances under the big, bright spotlight."

Umm, yeah. For at least 50 years. Probably over 100. Memo to Murch, everyone else already knew this.

Ya know, maybe it's way past time for the IRS to rip apart the 'Hollywood accounting' scam that leaves guys like David Prowse (Darth Vader) not receiving royalties for huge hits like "Return of the Jedi", a half-billion dollar blockbuster success.

I mean if Obama can sic the IRS on political organizations, why not?

Haven't actors historically been considered kind of vulgar?

"Haven't actors historically been considered kind of vulgar?

NicoleK at January 8, 2020 10:35 AM"

Yep synonymous with prostitutes, alcoholics, low life's. Pretty accurate, I'd say.

The acting profession has never really been "high-class." Even the great actors of 75 years ago only looked and sounded great if you weren't on-set. Now we get to see their private lives, and just about every single one is an asshole.

They also haven't come up with much of anything new in that 75 years, unless you count things like Michael Moore's vicious-lie-cumentaries about the causes he hates.

These days the only thing their acting talent is (even partly) good for is to let them keep straight faces while unveiling their hypocrisy. So it's a good thing that events like this one, which are about celebrating that culture of hypocrisy, are being dumped upon the same way they dump on the rest of what it is to be an American.

...you can't help but feel confused about the message Hollywood is trying to send.

The message Hollywood is trying to send? Collectivist dogmatists with delusions of tolerance and inclusiveness. Each and every individual working in Hollywood must adhere to the PC doctrine of left-wing social justice, and use their platform to fervently preach "the message Hollywood is trying to send", while rabidly denouncing deniers, heretics and unbelievers. Any divergence from the dogma of wokeness triggers convulsions of outrage among the faithful, especially if it includes mockery or criticism of the woke celebrity priesthood. There will be an inquisition, and Gervais will grovelingly confess his sins, repent, and be shunned for an indefinite period of penance; or be excommunicated from Hollywood forever.

"Haven't actors historically been considered kind of vulgar?

NicoleK at January 8, 2020 10:35 AM"

Yep synonymous with prostitutes, alcoholics, low life's. Pretty accurate, I'd say.

Momof4 at January 8, 2020 12:27 PM
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Jenny Lind (the "Swedish Nightingale") was discovered at age 9 (she went on stage at age 10, in the early 1830s).

I read about her when I was little, but it was decades later that I found out that she was darned lucky not to get ensnared in the prostitution rings that were apparently everywhere in theater at that time.

Murch could have saved everyone's time by just pointing and screaming "heretic!"

Okay.

Let's not dump on everybody in the acting profession. You can point out scum in every field.

The second-tier actors, making in the low six figures annually by my guess, are the people who are propelling the shows most of the time. They just don't have the cachét to draw audiences. For every Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman, there are dozens of Peter Jurasiks and Amy Ackers, making things work, and they get things done. They all have stories about other actors that remove any mystique oen might have, even as they're in a profession with zero job security.

I'll second Ken R's comments.

The subtext under her remarks tells you what you need to know about Murch's way of thinking, and about the world we would live in if she were in charge. She is appalled at the conflicting "message(s) Hollywood is trying to send." IOW, Hollywood--this industry encompassing vast numbers of individuals all over the world, working in thousands of separate companies--must have have complete consensus. One, and only one, message may be sent.

I have no doubt she feels the same way about any large group of humans--all the humans in the USA, for example. Queen Murch will allow no conflicting opinions, no conflicting speech.

Yeah, I can't wait to live in that world.