Farrah Fawcett Oscar® snub was deliberate

The man in charge of Sunday night's Academy Awards® In Memorium sequence has apologized for omitting actress Farrah Fawcett, yet says the decision was deliberate and insists he stands by it, comparing the show business icon to Gene Barry.

Bruce Davis, executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, responded to the outrage expressed on this website, saying: "There's nothing you can say to people, particularly to family members, within a day or two of the show that helps at all. They tend to be surprised and hurt, and we understand that and we're sorry for it."


Davis (above) claimed the academy considered adding Farrah t0 the tribute, but decided her "remarkable television work" made her more suitable for the Emmy Awards, making room for an unusual number of "extremely distinguished screenwriters" who'd died in the past year.

"Think of all the blogging
we would have gotten
if we had left
Michael Jackson out."

Davis said Michael Jackson was included because he'd recently appeared in a popular theatrical film. That would probably be This Is It, the posthumous documentary focused on Jacko's singing and dancing.

He added (and get a load of this!): "Think of all the blogging we would have gotten if we had left him out."


Farrah's survivors joined Tabloid Baby in protest of the Oscar omission. Tatum O'Neal, Oscar®-winning daughter of Farrah's on-off lover Ryan O'Neal, said in a statement following our postings:

“On behalf of myself, my father Ryan O’Neal and my entire family, we are deeply saddened that a truly beautiful and talented actress Farrah Fawcett was not included in the memorial montage during the 82nd Academy Awards®.

“We are bereft with this exclusion of such an international icon who inspired so many for so many reasons. Beautiful, talented Farrah will never be forgotten by her family and amazing fans.”

Academy shrugs off Farrah Oscar® snub

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has responded to Tabloid Baby's complaint that Farrah Fawcett was unjustly left out of the In Memorium segment of the Academy Awards® show, and their answer is "tough luck."

"I would not say that it was an oversight," says spokeswoman Leslie Unger. "No matter how carefully and how conscientiously people address who is included, there are people who just simply can't be.

"Every year there are many difficult decisions that have to be made and not everybody who passed during the year can be included. That's the unfortunate reality."

Unger addressed our specific complaint that Michael Jackson, who died on the same day as Farrah yet had scant film credits, was honored.

"In any given year there will always be some people that other people think should have been included and that there's more justification for one person versus another. It is impossible to include everybody."


Meanwhile, the men who are fighting over Farrah found common ground in their disgust over the omission.

Speaking through his publicist, Ryan O'Neal said, "We were disappointed that she was not included."

Farrah's producing partner Craig Nevius said: "I think this is what Farrah struggled with her entire career. She struggled with respect and told me many times she felt she was put in a box.

"She loved television, and she was primarily a star on TV, but she was also a star on stage and film. You know, how you can discount Extremities (for which Farrah earned a Golden Globe Globe nomination), The Apostle (ditto an Independent Spirit nomination) and Dr. T and the Women, I don't know.

"I think it would be very big of them to own up to the mistake, but I also think it might set a dangerous precedent for them, which is why they probably won't do it."

Whoopi Goldberg pisses on the Oscars®

Everyone can debate the merits of the Academy Awards® show. For us, the most disturbing segment came during a commercial break in the Red Carpet lead-in show, with onetime host Whoopi Goldberg's extravagant and distasteful ad for pads that soak up her unexpected "spritzes" from bladder leakage. We couldn't shake off the image through the next three hours.

Farrah Fawcett snubbed at The Oscars®

The image of Patrick Swayze led off the tributes and Karl Malden seemed to generate the loudest applause, but Farrah Fawcett was for some reason excluded from last night's Academy Awards® "In Memorium" segment. Farrah may be better known for her television work, but she also starred in classic films including Myra Breckenridge, Logan's Run, Sunburn, The Cannonball Run, Extremities, The Apostle and Dr. T and The Women.


(Michael Jackson, who died the same day as Farrah and whose film bio is far less substantial than Farrah's, was included.)

Really only five Best Picture nominees

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences was looking to boost the ratings of its Academy Awards® show by doubling the number of Best Picture nominees to ten. But when you look at the list, take away the window-dressing and figure "Up" will win Best Animated Feature, it really does come down to only five Best Picture nominees after all isn't it? The real question is whether the Academy will give the Oscar to Avatar or some art film, and the answer to that is obvious. But who knows with these fogies? If they were going to throw ten flicks into the mix, to win some popular appeal for their windy show, you'd have thought they'd at least throw in The Hangover.

Academy Award ®Best Picture nominees:
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9″
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

Let's cut away the frivolous nominees:
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9″
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up In The Air”

The actual Best Picture nominees:
"Avatar"
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
"Up In The Air"

Oscar® nominations: Ten for Best Picture

The 82nd Annual Academy Award® nominations were announced this morning.

Best Picture
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9″
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

Best Direction
“Avatar” — James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” — Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” — Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” — Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” — Jason Reitman

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Up”

Art Direction
“Avatar” — Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” — Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
“Nine” — Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Sherlock Holmes” — Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Young Victoria” — Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography
“Avatar” — Mauro Fiore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” — Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” — Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” — Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” — Christian Berger

Costume Design
“Bright Star” — Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” — Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” — Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” — Colleen Atwood
“The Young Victoria” — Sandy Powell

Documentary (Feature)
“Burma VJ”
“The Cove”
“Food, Inc.”
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”
“Which Way Home”

Documentary (Short Subject)
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
“Music by Prudence”
“Rabbit à la Berlin”

Film Editing
* “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
* “District 9” Julian Clarke
* “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
* “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film
* “Ajami” Israel
* “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
* “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
* “Un Prophète” France
* “The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup
* “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
* “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
* “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)
* “Avatar” James Horner
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
* “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
* “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
* “Up” Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)
* “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
* “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
* “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short Film (Animated)
* “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
* “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
* “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
* “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
* “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)
* “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
* “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
* “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
* “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
* “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing
* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
* “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
* “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
* “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing
* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
* “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
* “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
* “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects
* “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
* “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
* “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
* “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
* “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
* “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
* “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)
* “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
* “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
* “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
* “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
* “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

Yes, Cloud 9 is linked to Oscar®'s Best Picture!

Hey, we almost let the Oscars® slip away without mentioning the incredible connection between this year's Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire, and Cloud 9, the hilarious 2006 sports comedy written and produced by our pals at Frozen Pictures. For a couple of years now, we've had an annual list of the eerie one-degree-of-separation between the beach volleyball sex comedy and social satire starring Burt Reynolds and the nominees and eventual holders of the golden statuette ("Michael Clayton star ((and Best Actor nominee)) George Clooney appeared with Cloud 9 costar Paul Rodriguez on the 2003 TV special, Playboy’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. He also appeared as “Joe” in the 1991 TV series Baby Talk, in which Tony Danza, who appears in Cloud 9, supplied the voice of a baby...").

And with our Tabloid Baby research staff has been let loose on other subjects this season, it's been left to our readers to point out the the link between Cloud 9 and Slumdog Millionaire: mainly that Cloud 9 remains a big hit in India! Bollywood giants Shemaroo Entertainment released deluxe DVD and VCD versions of the movie in 2007. Its popularity spread because of favorable comparisons to a Bollywood hit starring Indian superstar Shahrukh Khan (also known as “King Khan”), as a disgraced captain of the Indian hockey team who decides to coach a female hockey team. Wrote Shemaroo:


"The story is much akin to our Bollywood ‘Chak De’. A washed out former star, who is in need of money and an ambition to be fulfilled works towards a get rich plan and starts a volleyball team whose players consist of a group of beautiful athletic strippers. Burt Reynolds efforts in forming the world’s sexiest beach volleyball team with the strippers, is seen as a rib tickling comedy. Eventually though as the girls’ popularity swells, they want to win the crowds with their abilities, and not their bodies where these girls team up and play a match against actual volley ball players."

Cloud 9, of course, was written and produced by Frozen Pictures' Brett Hudson and Burt Kearns, along with Albert S. Ruddy, Oscar®-winning producer of The Godfather and Million Dollar Baby.

And get this: Shahrukh Khan introduced Slumdog at the Golden Globe Awards (where Burt Reynolds took home a Best Actor trophy in 1998) and starred with Amil Kapoor, the Bollywood star who played the TV host in Slumdog, in the 1995 Bollywood classic Trimurti.

We don't make this stuff up...

Last night

"Thank you. Thank you so very much. For most of my life, I've thought that doing good for someone didn't mean you would receive commendation for that act of kindness -- at least until now. This award touches my heart and the very depth of my soul because of who the award is from and those who will benefit. This humility I feel is staggering. And I know it'll stay with me for the rest of my life. I thank you. I thank the Academy. And to all you people in the movie business, it's such a joy being a part of you and everything you do. Thank you and good night."

Liveblogging the Oscars

Who'd protest an Academy Award for Jerry Lewis?

We at Tabloid Baby are very happy that film genius and total film-maker Jerry Lewis will be receiving a long-overdue Academy Award on Sunday. Some activists for the disabled are not. They plan protests against this man who raised billions of dollars and generations of awareness for their cause.

For Immediate Release: Contact:
February 18, 2009 Lawrence Carter-Long, 917-684-3235

OSCAR CONTROVERSY!

Disability Advocates Protest "Humanitarian" Award Recipient, Jerry Lewis. Learn why:

Los Angeles, CA - Disability community leaders from across disability advocacy will protest the decision of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to grant Jerry Lewis the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at this Sunday's Oscar Awards ceremony. Lewis has described disabled individual is "half a person" and referred to a wheelchair as "a steel imprisonment."

For more than two decades, disability rights advocates have objected to Lewis' portrayal of life with a disability as tragic and pathetic. In response, Lewis snarled, "You don't want to be pitied because you're a cripple in a wheelchair? Stay in your house!"

Dismissing the disability community's objections, the Academy has decided to proceed with the award. In a letter to the activist group The Trouble with Jerry, Academy director Bruce Davis compared Lewis' insulting, outdated attitudes to "some scratches in the paint job... of a Lamborghini."

"To outsiders, Jerry Lewis may be perceived as a humanitarian, but to us Lewis personifies one of the biggest barriers facing people with disabilities: outdated attitudes," said author and activist Laura Hershey, a protest organizer. "While the Motion Picture Academy has chosen to award Lewis the Hersholt award due to the money raised on his MDA Telethons, we counter the cost is too high. Money can't buy respect." Said Hershey, "we experience the side-effects of Lewis' pity-mongering every day, when people see us as victims rather than as contributors, as recipients of handouts rather than equal citizens. Every dime raised has been at cost of our dignity."

Over 30 organizations endorse The Trouble with Jerry campaign, and to date over 2600 individuals have signed a petition protesting the award. The petition states in part, 'Rather than working for equality and social inclusion of disabled people, the MDA Telethon portrays us as hopeless, pathetic, eternal children.

Demonstrations will take place during Oscar weekend in Los Angeles and around the US. Local LA protest schedules and locations are as follows:

Friday, February 20, noon, Motion Picture Academy, 8949 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills
Saturday, February 21, 12 noon, Kodak Theatre, Highland & Hollywood Blvd
Sunday, February 22, 2:00 p.m., near the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood & Vine

Correspondence between The Trouble with Jerry and the Motion Picture Academy, as well as some history of disability rights protests against Jerry Lewis, and current protest information, can be found at http://TheTroubleWithJerry.com

Oscar blows it again

What's wrong with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences? Every time they have a chance to connect with the general moviegoing audience, they reject that and pass over great popular art in favor of pretentious phony intellectual middle of the road and basically dishonest fare that poses as grand statements. Are Frost/Nixon and The Reader really better movies than The Dark Knight? The Reader? Milk?? Does Richard Jenkins really deserve a nomination more than Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino? There are some really good movies out there that people line up to see, but the Oscar folks obviously answer to a higher power than the public. Expect Benjamin Button to beat Slumdog Millionaire and the singing and dancing Hugh Jackman Oscars show to get even lower ratings than Jon Stewart.

Oscars to honor Jerry Lewis!

Tabloid Baby icon Jerry Lewis will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards ceremony on February 22nd.

Jerry has has raised over $2 billion for the Muscular Dystrophy Association through his annual Labor Day telethon.

He also plays a big role in the book Tabloid Baby.

Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, described Jerry as "a legendary comedian who has... brought laughter to millions around the world" and "helped thousands upon thousands by raising funds and awareness for those suffering from muscular dystrophy."

Jerry is 82 years young!

Olbermann rips off our Stewart-Obama story

We took a little stick yesterday for calling out WGA strike scab Jon Stewart for sliming Barack Obama at the Academy Awards-- linking the name of Hillary Clinton's opponent to Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and Adolph Hitler on the world-viewed Academy Awards less than 24 hours after his fellow neolib Tina Fey (who, as headwriter, did more than anyone to neuter Saturday Night Live's political bite in favor of Harvey Levin celebutard worship) interrupted the SNL news for an overwrought Clinton appeal.

So it's funny to see pretentious, pompous, pear-shaped nutjob Keith Olbermann getting credit for his bravery after ripping off our story and highlighting it on his show on the Obamaphile MSNBC about twelve hours after we published. Of course, Olbermann had to muddy the waters by comparing Stewart to comedienne Ann Coulter, just so he could continue to link his own name to popular conservatives and carry on a phony Fred Allen-Jack Benny media feud, but an equally obvious point is that the mainstream media, most especially phony-Murrow autism cases like Olbermann, aren't good at giving credit where credit is due.

Is Jon Stewart part of Obama "smear" campaign?

Jon Stewart took time from his Academy Awards® joke monologue to point out to 30 million viewers that Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama's middle name is "Hussein" and that his last name rhymes with "Osama"? It came off as less a joke than a Hannityesque political statement attached to a lame punchline; far more blatant, and reaching far more viewers than Tina Fey's girlie Hillary Clinton diatribe on Saturday Night Live. Could Stewart be a Hillary supporter, as well?

Or, in light of the Obama "smear picture," circulated simultaneously by Clinton's camp and front and center on Drudge this morning, could this be part of something bigger-- and uglier?

Jan. 18th, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher:

Newsweek international editor Fareed Zakaria: I think somebody wrote, “Imagine this Pakistani jihadi, you know, sitting there looking up at Barack Hussein Obama. It’s very tough to say to yourself, you know, I’ve got-- I’ve got to wage a jihad to bring down this guy.”

Maher: Right. He’d probably see “Hussein,” and go, “Hey…” [laughter] All right, so--

Zakaria: Do you know what? Actually, a couple of people in Pakistan actually did tell me-- and these were not militants, these were Pakistani businessmen – but they said, “You know what? I love the fact that somebody with the middle name, ‘Hussein,’ can run for president in America.” I said-- I said to them, “That’s because nobody in America knows his middle name is Hussein.” [laughter] [applause] Wait – wait until the Republicans bring that up in the – in the general election.

Maher: Right, well, wait until the Republican slime machine gets hold of that middle name. [laughter] Trust me, it won’t be quite as cute.

Feb. 24th, Academy Awards® broadcast
before 30 million American viewers:

Jon Stewart: You have to give Barack Obama credit, he’s overcome a great deal. Not just he’s an African-American. Barack Hussein Obama is his name. His middle name is the last name of Iraq’s former tyrant. His last name rhymes with Osama. That’s not easy to overcome. I think we all remember the ill-fated 1944 presidential campaign of Gaydolf Titler.

The roots of Bardem's "No Country" hair

Spaniard Javier Bardem is up for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar® for his not-as-scary-as-the-book role as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and in an apparent bid for sympathy votes keeps complaining about his character's haircut as if it were a Christy Brown My Left Foot or The Sea Inside transformation. But from the start, we've seen the do as an obvious tribute to Charlie Watts.