The Hollywood elites just can’t help themselves. There they were, sailing through Oscar night with Conan O’Brien doing his funny and mostly innocuous performance, and actors like Amy Madigan (Best Supporting Actress) chatting happily about their awards, when along came washed-up comedian Jimmy Kimmel, the proverbial ant at the picnic, who shot President Donald Trump. Thank goodness Trump critic Sean Penn, who also won an Oscar, couldn’t attend.
It could have been worse. Yes, there were the usual dark hints about the troubled world we live in and at least one reference to Palestine, but mostly the show was cheerful and bearable.
That was a serious disappointment for some. Hours before Hollywood’s big night, The New York Times published an op-ed titled “Oscar Winners, Will You Be Complicit?” In his column, German writer Daniel Kehlmann urged Oscar stars to lash out against Donald Trump. He lamented that last year’s event was “deeply disheartening” because participants’ attacks on the government were “muted,” in contrast to Hollywood’s “open defiance” during Trump’s first term.
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His piece, which assumes (as many Oscar contenders apparently do) that the job of movie stars is not to entertain us and make profitable films, but rather to educate us, nicely sums up why so many people hate Hollywood. (A few years ago, an NBC poll found that the film industry had lower approval ratings than the NRA.)
Jimmy Kimmel speaks on stage during the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theater on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
It also shows why fewer Americans watch the Oscars today than in the past. About 20 million people likely tuned in for a glimpse of the red carpet or the opening monologue on Sunday; 55 million viewers in 1998, when “Titanic” won Best Picture.
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The author speculates that actors (or their studios) fear reprisals from the president, or perhaps they feel that the public views them as “frivolous, excessive elites.” He recalls then-host Ricky Gervais’s warning to Golden Globes attendees in 2020: “If you win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You are in no position to lecture the audience about anything. You know nothing about the real world.”
Kehlmann says this is wrong, claiming that Hollywood icons are known all over the world, even in dark places like North Korea; therefore, they have a duty to criticize our country and expose how the US is becoming a ‘dictatorship’ led by a ‘mad king’. He then compares current events to those of the 1930s, when some of Germany’s most famous actors collaborated with the Nazi regime. You can imagine the rest.
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There’s a lot to unpack here, but let’s start with the obvious. Half the country will vote for Donald Trump in 2024. Those people don’t want to hear from a privileged Hollywood actor that Trump is destroying our nation. Open borders, crime, failing public schools, and absurd climate policies that drive up energy prices — the problems Trump is trying to solve — may not matter to wealthy movie stars living behind fences, but they matter to most of us.
Second, actors who deplore income inequality, racism, and other perceived shortcomings of our society have become rich and famous because of our capitalist system. They are free to stand on that Oscar stage and say whatever they want. They are also free to post vile and even dishonest claims about our president online — and many do.
Kehlmann cannot say the same about his home country. In Germany, people can be arrested or jailed for spreading malicious gossip or posting lies online. We really don’t need leadership from Europe.
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Meanwhile, Hollywood is in trouble. It’s no coincidence that the day before the Times published an op-ed entitled “Why I Love the Movies – and How to Save Them,” by Tom Rothman, CEO of the Sony Pictures film studio. Rothman notes that “1.24 billion movie tickets were sold in North America in 2019. By 2025, there would be 780 million – a 37 percent decline.” He says the industry’s gloom has been exacerbated by “the impending end of Warner Bros. – once the most powerful of all studios – as a standalone entity after more than 100 years.”
Rothman highlights the various challenges facing Hollywood, including the threat of AI, and offers thoughtful ideas on how to manage the current turmoil.
Not surprisingly, he doesn’t address what many Americans think is the real problem: the declining quality of films hitting theaters. Hollywood needs to make movies that people want to see: movies that are entertaining, original, exciting and fun for kids – and not political. This year’s run of Oscar nominees follows several years of celebrating films that attracted paltry audiences and made little or no money. That is not a recipe for success.
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The highest-grossing films of all time (excluding ‘Gone With the Wind’, widely considered the biggest winner of all time) are ‘Avatar’ (2009), ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019), ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ (2022), Titanic (1997) and ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (2015).
Three of these films are directed by James Cameron, who moved to New Zealand because he hates Donald Trump and our political climate. I find that reprehensible, but that is his right. The admirable thing is that although Cameron’s films contain allegorical themes about colonialism or women’s rights, the message is so subtle that the films appeal to a wide audience.
Suzy Amis Cameron and James Cameron attend the European Premiere of 20th Century Studios “Avatar: Fire and Ash” on December 5, 2025 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. (Lyvans Boolaky)
Of course people are free to make whatever kinds of movies they like, but they can’t make people pay to see them. In 2020, Hollywood elites awarded Best Picture to “Parasite,” a South Korean film – the first non-English language winner. Jessica Kiang of Variety described the story of social inequality as “a tick with the bitter blood of class rage.” I can’t imagine how I missed it.
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This year’s best film, ‘One Battle After Another’, conveyed a strong liberal message. Maybe that’s why it bombed at the box office despite good reviews. People are tired of having left-wing dogmas forced upon them.
Last month, Gervais reposted his message to X, adding, “They still aren’t listening.”
He’s right.
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