Ian Patrick, FISM News
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Oscar hosts Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes used their stage during the televised Academy Awards to make jokes and poke fun at Hollywood, as is the custom. However, they also used their time to attack Republicans and demean the political right.
In the opening monologue for the 94th Academy Awards, the three hosts threw quips at GOP figures and even the entire state of Florida.
Halfway through the opening remarks Regina Hall said, “You know, this year, we saw a frightening display of how toxic masculinity turns into cruelty toward women and children.”
Right after that, Sykes popped in to utter “D**n that Mitch McConnell.” Hall then clarified she was speaking about the Western-based flick “The Power of the Dog” starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
Of course, the most obvious rip of the night happened near the end of their remarks. Starting to wrap up, Sykes said “Well, we’re going to have a great night tonight. And for you people in Florida, we’re going to have a gay night.”
The three hosts then chanted the word “gay” multiple times, which was met with applause from the celebrity-stacked audience at the awards show. This was intended as a dig against a Florida Senate bill for parental rights, which the mainstream media and progressive political figures have called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
The chanting got the attention of Christina Pushaw, who is the press secretary for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Pushaw reacted sarcastically to the news on Twitter, saying “Florida will never recover from this.”
Florida will never recover from this 😅 https://t.co/PDZzamxPDv
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) March 28, 2022
As previously reported by FISM News, the bill, which is actually titled the Parental Rights in Education Bill, requires Florida school districts to adopt procedures that “reinforce the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding the upbringing and control of their children in a specified manner.” DeSantis has numerous times remarked that the bill does not use the word “gay” once within its text.
The bill has caused a stir in the state, especially at Disney World where employees staged walkouts to pressure Disney CEO Bob Chapek into denouncing the bill. Disney even added a same-sex kiss scene back into their upcoming “Lightyear” movie as a way of protesting the bill.
Benny Johnson, CCO of Turning Point USA and host of Newsmax’s The Benny Report, poked fun at the chanting moment from the Oscars highlighting the declining viewership seen in recent years. He tweeted as the Oscars asking, “How can we collapse our ratings lower and get even more people to hate us?”
Oscars: How can we collapse our ratings lower and get even more people to hate us?
Amy Schumer:
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 28, 2022
The Oscars have been trying to recapture its audiences since a decline in viewership came to a head last year when the Academy Awards notched its lowest ever viewership rating.