Hollywood gets political at the 2020 Oscars
Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix use Oscar speeches as calls to action; Jonathan Hunt reports from Los Angeles on a night full of surprises with a heavy dose of politics mixed in.
Eric Trump had choice words for Brad Pitt after the actor used his acceptance speech at Sunday night's Oscars to take a shot at Republican senators who voted against calling witnesses at President Trump’s impeachment trial.
Eric referred to the "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" star as a "smug elitist" on Instagram and seemed to suggest Pitt's political antics were behind the show having its lowest ratings ever.
"Probably because Americans don’t liked to be preached to by smug elitists. The elegance has been lost and America has tuned these people out of their homes," Eric wrote on Instagram alongside a graphic from Fox Business highlighting the low viewership.
POLITICALLY CHARGED OSCARS HIT ALL-TIME LOW RATINGS, PLUMMET ALMOST 6 MILLION VIEWERS FROM 2019
A rep for the actor had no comment when reached by Fox News.
BRAD PITT JABS GOP IN OSCARS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH, JOAQUIN PHOENIX TALKS ANIMAL RIGHTS
Pitt took home the award for best supporting actor for his part as a stuntman in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” After winning his first-ever Oscar for acting, Pitt immediately took the stage and got political by taking a jab at Republican senators who voted against Democrats’ requests to call new witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Trump, specifically former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who claimed he was willing to testify.
“They told me I only have 45 seconds up here, which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week,” Pitt said. “I’m thinking maybe Quentin [Tarantino] does a movie about it. In the end, the adults do the right thing.”
BRAD PITT JABS GOP IN OSCARS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH, JOAQUIN PHOENIX TALKS ANIMAL RIGHTS
Eric Trump called Brad Pitt a 'smug elitist.' (AP)
The Oscars telecast averaged 23.6 million viewers on Sunday night, the smallest audience ever, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
THR noted that total was “well below the 29.56 million and 7.7 for last year's awards,” and down 20 percent in year-to-year viewers. The Oscars managed a 5.3 rating in the key demographic of adults age 18-49, down 31 percent from last year’s 7.7 demo rating.
The lengthy, host-less broadcast fell almost 2 million viewers short of the previous all-time low, when the Oscars averaged 26.54 million viewers back in 2018.
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