Subject: Re: [MOPO] Vanessa Redgrave's controversy at the Oscars-- a
link to the story
As Joe said she was specifically referring to the demonstrators,
(who burned her effigy that night), and did speak in praise of the
Jews who died in the Holocaust.
So based on that speech, "anti-semite" was and is inaccurate.
Was going to say more, but I'll leave it with the observation that
the majority of celebs publicly support causes that just happen to
be far more acceptable.
And whether deliberately or not, and however heartfelt, are raising
their profiles in a context that could potentially benefit their careers.
Rich
Folks.
I think when I read the comments from people on this issue, that I
come to believe few were either cognizant of the political issues at
the time, and probably did not also see her acceptance speech live, as I did.
#1 when she referred to "Zionist hoodlums" she was referring to the
Israelites, who were in another pitched battle with the Palestinians
at the time, and who were trying to pressure the Hollywood bigwigs -
who at the time were a majority of Jewish studio heads - into
disparaging the Palestinian cause at that time. The Studio heads did
not acquiesce to Israel and she was applauding the studios for that.
However, if she was not an anti-semite at the time, she chose her
words very poorly and she was excoriated for it publicly as the
studios did not acquiece because they were philosophically opposed to
Israel (they certainly were not) but because they were opposed to
being pressured into anything political
#2 She was blacklisted by the Hollywood studio heads at the time who
vowed to never let her act in an Amercian made movie again, and they
did so publicly. I remember it very well. The studio heads did make
good on their vows too - she did not act in a solely American
production again until Little Odessa in 1994 - 17 years after Julia
and if you check her filmography, she has been in precious few since.
.....
Today, if you watch her speech only and you do not read the news of
the time in great depth to get the full picture, it does indeed look
like she is doing something else than what I describe above. But
believe me, what I describe above is exactly what was going on.
I remember it oh-so-very-well.
Rich
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