And the Oscars go to … minorities

Movie star Hugh Grant is taking a bit of stick on social media for allegedly being “rude” to a TV interviewer on the red carpet at the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday night. Clearly, the English actor was dumbstruck by some of the inane questions fired at him.

But – that’s showbiz folks, and nowhere is the unreality of Tinseltown on display more effectively than the night they all slap each other on the back.

Fortunately, the blows this year were not in earnest as they were last year, when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock after the latter made an insensitive quip about Smith’s wife.

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Oscars 2023 was, the cynics might say, all about ensuring that Hollywood – long accused of sexism and racism – was seen to be celebrating the different and honouring the downtrodden, or minorities.

This time was the first time an Oscar was awarded to an Asian actress – Michelle Yeoh, who is Malaysian. She won for her portrayal of an exhausted Chinese laundromat owner embroiled in a battle with an inter-dimensional supervillain – who happens to be her daughter – in Everything Everywhere All at Once, directed by a man who was once an Asian “boat person” refugee…

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“This is history in the making. Ladies, don’t let anybody tell you, you are ever past your prime,” said 60-year-old Yeoh.

And there – don’t you ever accuse one of the world’s most sexist and ageist establishments of only paying attention to young, nubile flesh…

Differently shaped people also got a nod, with Brendan Fraser receiving Best Actor for playing a morbidly obese teacher in The Whale. Despite the overwhelming “sincerity”, the Oscars were a reminder that fantasy and fiction are still alive and well on the big screen … even in the age of multiple digital platforms.

The Oscar for lifetime achievement goes to … Hollywood.

WATCH: Chris Rock finally claps back at Will Smith for that Oscars slap