Showbiz and Politics
I hear last week's Grammy Awards show was [much to the chagrin of CBS, which really, really wants a war] a funny forum for anti-war sentiments.
I am against the war, but I'm also against lunkheads like Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst getting on national TV, telling everyone that we're all in "aggreeance" on the subject. Why do I doubt the guy has ever even read a newspaper? Is he qualified to speak on the subject?
Alan Pergament, my fave TV columnist, has similar feelings, as expressed in his 2/27 column in the
Buffalo News. I check
his columns every week; visit and you'll see why he's so good.
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Attention, entertainers: Leave the politics out of the show
2/27/2003
By Alan Pergament
In one of the more memorable moments in Hollywood last month, Evan Marriott, a k a "Joe Millionaire," was being interviewed by TV critics during a party.
I was one of them, listening to answers on silly subjects, including his hair style. When I thought I heard someone bring up Iraq, I couldn't flee fast enough.
The last thing I wanted to do was listen to a big dumb guy on a reality show give me his views on anything connected to Iraq. You have to draw a line somewhere during interviews with people on reality shows. Iraq was my line.
Which brings me to the Grammy Awards controversy over the apparent request, by either CBS or the awards committee, for winners to abstain from spouting their feelings about the looming war.
Media and pop music critics protested this act of censorship. It was most notably ignored by Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, who said, "This war should go away as quickly as possible."
I'm no advocate of censorship, but the last thing I want to hear during the Grammy Awards is how some musician feels about President Bush's policies. It would be hard to know whether the statement is being made by someone who has done his or her homework or someone just trying to get a rise out of the audience.
As far as I can tell, there aren't exactly a lot of Bob Dylans and Phil Ochs' out there making political statements in their music these days. Unless, I'm missing something hidden in "Soak Up the Sun."
Durst's statement was so poorly constructed that it could be taken a few ways. By saying "this war should go away as quickly as possible," he could have meant the United States should get in and get it over with quickly.
The purpose of the Grammy Awards is to have fun and celebrate music and forget about world events. The winners and presenters often are about as well known to most Americans as the people on ABC's "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here." I'm betting most Americans over the age of 40 wouldn't know Fred Durst from Kirsten Dunst.
Many of us didn't want to hear Durst, Norah Jones, Eminem or Nelly talking about the war anymore than we want to hear ABC reality mates Downtown Julie Brown, Cris Rudd, Melissa Rivers or Stuttering John do so live on TV from Australia.
This isn't to say there isn't a time and a place for celebrities to have their voices heard. Susan Sarandon and Mike Farrell, who actually do their homework, often are invited to use their celebrity to argue against the war. They did so on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, hours before the Grammys aired.
And then there's Bill Maher, who lost his job as host of ABC's "Politically Incorrect" after he said something after 9/11 that exploded in his face. He has a new weekly show on HBO, "Real Time With Bill Maher," which won't be censored. It premiered last Friday and was loaded with discussions about the war that undoubtedly didn't play well in the Bush White House.
Maher is a very clever wordsmith, who simplifies issues to get his anti-war point across. Fortunately, he allows dissent. On his premiere show, his guests included a hawkish California politician, a conservative talk show guest (Ann Coulter), a middle-of-the road comedian, Larry Miller, and cultural critic Michael Eric Dyson.
The discussion was intelligent and came from multiple points of view, something that was unlikely to happen if a Grammy winner gave a sound bite view of war.
And the best way to get a handle on the war discussion is to get many points of views, something that network and cable TV certainly provide.
One of my favorite shows is "Reliable Sources," the CNN media show hosted by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post. Last weekend, his guests included Katty Kay of the BBC, who explained the European opposition to Bush's policies. She said some Europeans refer to Bush's language as "fluent Texan."
"You can sense people (in Europe) are dismissive of America's position," said Kay, "because of Bush's language."
Kay's remark may have been music to the ears of the anti-war movement everywhere. She isn't a celebrity. Her opinion was made on a program that doesn't get anywhere near the ratings of the Grammys. But you can assume that, unlike Joe Millionaire or anyone on the Grammy broadcast, she certainly knows what she is talking about.
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Fair Use Notice)
-M!
