Hollywood sex scandal among Oscar winners
UNITED STATES: Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney won supporting actor Oscars yesterday, while Academy Awards host Jimmy Kimmel dove into Hollywood’s most embarrassing moments - sexual misconduct and last year’s best picture blunder.
Rockwell, the front-runner for the Academy Award, took home the trophy for his role as a racist, dim-witted police officer in Fox Searchlight dark comedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Janney, as widely expected, was named best supporting actress for her performance as a domineering mother in iceskating movie I, Tonya.
A Fantastic Woman, Chile’s groundbreaking story about a transgender woman, played by transgender actress Daniela Vega, won best foreign language film.
Opening the show before an A-list audience of actors and filmmakers, many of whom have reported being victims of sexual harassment, Kimmel pulled no punches about the elephant in the room. Noting that it was the 90th year of the ceremony, Kimmel said the tall golden Oscar statue itself was ‘‘the most beloved and respected man in Hollywood.’’
‘‘He keeps his hands where you can see them, he never says a rude word and most importantly he has no penis at all. He is literally a statue of limitations. That’s the kind of man we need more of,’’ Kimmel quipped.
The sexual misconduct scandal has led to the downfall of dozens of once-powerful men in Hollywood and beyond, and has overshadowed the movie industry’s awards season celebrations.
Referring to Fox Searchlight’s 13-time Oscar-nominated fantasy romance The Shape of Water ,in which a cleaning lady falls in love with a mysterious river creature, Kimmel joked: ‘‘We will always remember this year as the year men screwed up so badly that women started dating fish.’’
Kimmel, with stopwatch in hand, also emphasised keeping acceptance speeches short. He promised the shortest speech would win a jet ski. Go long, and winners might get Lakeith Stansfield screaming ‘‘Get out!’’ as the actor briefly reprised his character from the Oscarnominated Get Out on stage. Kimmel also turned last year’s embarrassing envelope mix-up over the best picture winner into a running joke, warning this year’s nominees, ‘‘This year when you hear your name called, don’t get up right away!.’’