Parasite’s sweep at this year’s Oscars was historic, making the first time in its 92 years history that the storied awards body has gifted a foreign-language film its top prize. The result has been a box office bump for Bong Joon-ho’s satirical class drama, with it all but poised to become the third highest-grossing foreign-language film in American history. But there’s one person not impressed: Donald Trump.
TRUMP: "By the way, how bad where the Academy Awards this year? [Booing] 'And the winner is a movie from South Korea!' What was that all about? We got enough problems with South Korea out with trade."
He then repeatedly calls Brad Pitt "a little wise guy." pic.twitter.com/sAEWlrKr0T
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2020
“How bad were the Academy Awards this year?” he rhetorically asked his followers seconds after blasting the press, apropos of nothing. The crowd dutifully booed as the president soldiered on. “’And the winner is…a movie from South Korea!’ What the hell was that all about? We’ve got enough problems with South Korea, with trade. On top of that they give them the best movie of the year?”
Had Trump seen Parasite? He had not. “Was it good? I don’t know.” After making latently xenophobic comments, he then suggested they should have awarded the trophy to an 80-year old American movie featuring happy slaves on a Civil War-era plantation. “Can we get Gone with the Wind back please?”
Trump also had a few choice words for Brad Pitt, who, while winning his Best Supporting Actor Oscar, belittled Senate Republicans for denying witnesses appear at the hearings after Trump was impeached by the House. “I was never a big fan of his,” Trump claimed before repeatedly calling the 5’11” actor a “little wise guy.” Then the president’s supporters booed Cliff Booth.
Parasite being a quite popular film, especially on certain parts of social media, Trump’s diss was met in kind, including from the film’s American distributor.
Understandable, he can't read.#Parasite #BestPicture #Bong2020 https://t.co/lNqGJkUrDP
— NEON (@neonrated) February 21, 2020
Others also pointed out Trump’s antipathy towards reading.
Parasite is a foreign movie about how oblivious the ultra-rich are about the struggles of the working class, and it requires two hours of reading subtitles. Of course Trump hates it. pic.twitter.com/WOl6Zou1CG
— DNC War Room (@DNCWarRoom) February 21, 2020
Trump preferring Gone with the Wind over a movie about non-white non-Americans did not go un-noticed.
It's bringing up Gone With the Wind that raises this from simple xenophobic ignorance to real dada racism. https://t.co/xRSYEFMlam
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 21, 2020
https://twitter.com/jonlovett/status/1230660685677219840
GONE. WITH. THE. WIND. https://t.co/zerpOX48IQ
— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) February 21, 2020
"Was it good? I don’t know. Let’s get ‘Gone With the Wind.'”
This is not a comment on Parasite. It's white identity politics. It's a signal of group identity & romanticism of an entertainment age before non-whites were socially prominent/influential.https://t.co/pYcw2oSSt2
— Luke Thomas🏋️♀️ (@lthomasnews) February 21, 2020
The most revealing part is that Trump asked for ‘Gone with the Wind’ back. Patriarchy, slavery, celebrating the Old South. Yikes. Trump really does signal to his voters’ worst instincts https://t.co/9xeKW70lcj
— Robert E Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly) February 21, 2020
Others pointed out that the crowd cheered Gone with the Wind but, when Trump name-dropped Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd. — about a deranged has-been narcissist obsessed with past glories — they remained silent.
https://twitter.com/ira/status/1230658029067980800
In any case, if Parasite needed another box office bump, maybe this will do it.
