I have been asked by a few friends about my reference to Ricky Gervais in my last blog. A host of the Golden Globes on a number of occasions, he is perhaps most identified with his 2020 monologue in which he asked those lucky enough to win that evening to come up and accept their awards without burdening the rest of the world with their political opinions. Most of you are millionaires, he said, who know nothing about life in the real world so why don’t you just shut the f… up.
Outrage amongst the assembled crowd was obvious, the look of disbelief on the face of Tom Hanks being most memorable. But I agree with Gervais. The general public tunes into such shows to see their favorite celebrities not to hear their political opinions. While Hanks has every right to express his views on racism, social equity, etc., I have every right to simply stop watching award shows rampant with what is more often than not mere sanctimonious drivel. Many others would seem to agree, the ratings for such shows having plummeted over the last few years.