The Year So Far: Best/Worst Awards Show Moments
Starting at a young age with family viewings of the Oscars, I've always been such a sucker for awards shows. The Academy Awards, in particular, have always seemed such a regal affair, and for movie junkies (whether novices like myself, or bona fide film critics), Oscar Sunday is the equivalent of Super Bowl Sunday. Perhaps it's that in the Entertainment world, unlike in Sports, we so rarely get to see winners and losers. Generally, the only time films are categorized as such is when the box office numbers are revealed. Events like the Academy Awards, the Emmys, the Tonys, etc. are a chance to reward not the biggest, but the best, and do so while entertaining the average viewer with a montage of the greatest hits, if you will, from the last year. Even the Grammys, which have devolved into mostly celebrating radio output, and the ESPYs, who suffer from a pro-sports bias and now an annual "our-host-will-never-be-as-funny-as-Timberlake" syndrome, take up space on my personal calendar. Whatever it is, I'm always willing to watch an awards show, and if I didn't have an emotional investment already, I assure you I will quickly formulate strong opinions within 5 minutes of that awards show's beginning.
I guess that's as good a segue as any: here are my selections for the finest and foulest award ceremony happenstances of the calendar year.
Best Awards Show Moment: History at the Tonys
Image Credit: dnaindia.com
An event that seemed long overdue, people of color swept the major musical acting awards at the Tonys. Cynthia Erivo of The Color Purple joined Leslie Odom Jr., Daveed Diggs, and Renée Elise Goldsberry from the phenomenon musical Hamilton as winners of Best Lead Actor and Actress, and Best Featured Actor and Actress in a Musical. Though the Hamilton domination was no surprise, an achievement of this magnitude was noteworthy and, in a year of racial awards-show controversy, particularly significant.
Other Highlights: Best Picture goes to Spotlight; Kendrick Lamar's Best Rap Album Grammy and victory speech; The social consciousness of the ESPYs; Leo DiCaprio finally gets his Oscar; Rachel Bloom's Golden Globe acceptance speech
Worst Awards Show Moment: Taylor Beats Kendrick for Album of the Year Grammy
Heartbreaking in every way. Both from a personal standpoint-- to me, Taylor is Duke University, Kendrick my UNC --but also from an objective standpoint. Let's recap: with the rising frustration over the lack of diversity at awards shows, the Grammys faced heat over failing to adequately recognize rap and hip-hop artists. Grammy voters were presented a golden opportunity to rectify this issue by awarding Album of the Year, the highest honor, to Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly, an album that explicitly examined race in America and topped nearly every music critic's year-end ranking. Sure, it wasn't the biggest commercial hit but what did that matter? Beck beat out Beyoncé in 2015. Daft Punk beat out Taylor Swift in 2014. Arcade Fire beat out Katy Perry and Lady Gaga in 2011. The list of examples is quite clear: this award goes to the best.
Instead, they gave it to Swift, for 1989. Swift then used her acceptance speech to garner sympathy while subtly criticizing Kanye West, another prominent rapper, in a slight that now has been proven disinegnous (remember this?).
Image Credit: Robyn Beck. Getty Images
So, the Grammy voters found this: "Cuz baby, now we got bad blood/you know it used to be mad love/So take a look what you've done/cuz baby, now we got bad blood, hey!"
more powerful than this: "So why did I weep when Trayvon Martin was in the street when gang banging make me kill a nigga blacker than me? Hypocrite!"
They voted in this: "Oh my God, look at that face/You look like my next mistake"
over this: "And we hate po-po/Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho'/Nigga, I'm at the preacher's door/My knees gettin' weak, and my gun might blow/But we gon' be alright!"
I have to stop talking about it now or I'll get mad all over again.
Other Lowlights: #OscarsSoWhite, LeBron and the Cavs sweeping the ESPYs, The Revenant dominating the Golden Globes, Inside Out snubbed for Best Picture nomination