After watching the Oscars last night I came away with a few opinions. Maybe I’m supposed to keep my mouth shut. One listener thought so this morning. Apparently I’m not supposed to have been turned off by them parading a bunch of us Average Joes through the auditorium like animals. It was especially offensive when host Jimmy Kimmel said beforehand “Does anyone know CPR?” as if, upon seeing these almighty Hollywood stars, someone from real America might faint. I voiced my opinion that I thought it was just an example of Hollywood elitism. Apparently I’m not supposed to have that opinion (or at least I wasn’t supposed to express it on the air), as I was referred to as appalling and hypocritical for doing so. I will stand by my opinion, that I think it only demonstrated further the divide between Hollywood and the real world…where one can wear a pair of gym shorts and not become a trending topic with celebrities referring to it as “cute” and sarcastically calling it “the best fashion statement of the Oscars.” I wear shorts like that. I might’ve been wearing a pair had I been on that tour bus. I mean, I’m a fan. I love movies! I don’t boycott them, I watch the Oscars, I watched the Red Carpet specials, I wanted to see the celebrities. But during that segment that was how I was feeling.
I did believe the tour group probably should’ve taken a moment to put their phones down and look at the folks in the room, and appreciate it for a second. I mentioned that some of them didn’t appear to be very bright. Maybe that was a mistake. I got called out on that too. I guess that was where I was hypocritical. Still, I shouldn’t have been expressing my opinion to begin with-unless it was agreeable to this person who complained, I suppose.
I also mentioned, sort of jokingly, that I had heard (and I have) “conspiracy theories” where people are postulating that perhaps the Oscars staged the whole Best Picture fiasco to increase buzz, etc. While I don’t personally subscribe to the theory, I DID SEE IT. Well, apparently that was irresponsible of me to mention. Of course I wouldn’t want to “irresponsibly spread false rumors.” I wasn’t aware this “theory” had already been proven false.
I admittedly did not mention that the PriceWaterhouseCooper accounting firm had taken responsibility for the error already. I didn’t see that store until I was off the air (at which point I did cover it in another on-air job I did for the afternoon on another station). But because I didn’t mention that I was deemed inaccurate.
I also encouraged my on-air guest to voice his inappropriate personal opinion that many movie stars think they are better than everyone else simply because they were lucky enough to get a good movie role and became famous.
I thought I was being even handed when I said “no matter what side of politics you’re on” most people will acknowledge that Hollywood is usually liberal and they voiced plenty of that evidence last night. However at the end of the night, I mentioned that I thought they gave President Trump plenty of “tweeting material” with the Best Picture error. Little did I know this was “loose with the facts,” not to mention inappropriately expressed to begin with, which this person thinks I do “too often.”
So, after having been referred to as appalling, irresponsible, hypocritical, and inappropriate (not to mention inaccurate), I guess I had one of my best on-air moments ever this morning?
As I said I don’t often express my personal opinions on the show. I don’t often have strong enough personal opinions and/or feelings that I want to expose them to this sort of critique, and potentially be disagreeable (or even offensive-apparently) to a section of the audience. However one thing is for sure, when I do feel the gumption to express myself, I’ll do it. It makes me who I am. I might not be right, and you might not agree…but don’t try to tell me on my morning radio show that I can’t tell you how I feel about something if I feel like doing it. At that point what’s the difference between WCEI and Pandora?