Elon Musk Thinks Hollywood’s Biggest Night Is “Unwatchable.” All Because Someone Else Made an Idiotic Claim About the Godfather
Elon Musk thinks that the Oscars are unwatchable because of one X user’s bad take.
This weekend, the United States came together to celebrate cinematic culture in the form of another Oscars presentation. One Battle After Another took home Best Picture, Paul Thomas Anderson brought home the award for Best Director. But, Musk and other conservative commentators took issue with their perceived “woke-ness” of the Oscars ceremony. The movies and actors being celebrated are a little too Black. Despite the Best Picture and Best Director winner I just listed.
This troll said, “If the Godfather were made today it would not be eligible for an Oscar. Unless he transitioned to the godmother and made someone an offer they couldn’t hear. You could still leave the gun but you couldn’t take the cannoli unless the Baker supports gay marriage. RIP Hollywood.”
Where to begin with this honestly, it’s such a loaded text in every way, shape, and form. Acting like The Godfather couldn’t be made the same way today is ridiculous on its face. Mostly because we still have old Martin Scorsese doing versions of these stories in the current era. Paramount, the parent company that helped bring us The Godfather all those decades ago, is controlled by a man atop a conservative media empire in David Ellison. Look no further than his hiring of Bari Weiss to head CBS’s news division, and the intent to make her the point person for CNN’s news offerings as well.
Are The Oscars really ‘Woke’?
To answer your question, not really! A ton of the viewing audience at home was rooting for Ryan Coogler’s centers to bring Best Director and Best Picture. The film triumphed with Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Original Screenplay. But, all of the media coverage around the night it had at the Oscars is focusing on the awards the movie did not win. (Some viewers immediately called up other sketchy headlines from Sinners‘ release window.)
Honestly, the entire cultural temperature in the United States is in the midst of dipping their toes back into diversity after a dalliance with unfettered conservatism that Musk campaigned for back in 2024. Put even more clearly, the society wasn’t that woke to begin with in recent years. The information environment, social media really, tricked a lot of people into thinking that things were much more progressive on the ground than they really were.
Oscars and Conservative Culture
I wouldn’t call an industry where people are getting laid off by the truck full progressive. Bosses trying to desperately replace all of their workers with AI as fast as possible isn’t “woke.” In fact, I’d call it downright conservative and all but the framing of the industry and its output in the media. Importantly, a lot of the news media does not have the professed liberal bias that a lot of these critics would toss its way either.
At the time of writing the dominant cultural mode of conservative posting on the Internet is grievance politics. Basically, they can’t really exist if there’s nothing to complain about. Big cultural events like the Super Bowl, the Oscars, the Grammys, big concert tour moments, massive TV shows and movies all provide the canvas to get the most rancid take you’ve ever read off. And unfortunately, it works. There are people out there who believe this stuff. They see it on their social media feeds and then don’t check with anyone that actually follows, reads , writes, or thinks about these things. “The stuff I like isn’t popular, so there must be a conspiracy!,” as an entire cultural mode.
(featured image: Paramount Pictures)
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