CNN won an Academy Award Sunday night. The news network won its first-ever Oscar for best documentary for “Navalny,” a film about the plot to kill Russian dissident and former presidential candidate Alexei Navalny.
Navalny’s wife, Yulia, went on stage with the film’s director to accept the Oscar. She said, “My husband is in prison just for telling the truth. My husband is in prison just for defending democracy. Alexei, I am dreaming about the day you will be free, and our country will be free. Stay strong, my love.”
Director Daniel Roher dedicated the award to Navalny and “all political prisoners around the world.”
In 2020, Navalny was poisoned with Novichok — an attack that many, including Navalny, believe was the doing of the Kremlin as payback for his criticisms. Russia has denied any involvement. Navalny is now serving a nine-year sentence at a maximum-security prison near Moscow. He was accused of probation violation and embezzlement charges that most believe were trumped up and politically motivated.
As far as the now Oscar-winning film, CNN writes, “‘Navalny’ documents a methodical investigation by CNN Chief International Correspondent, Clarissa Ward, and journalist group, Bellingcat, to unmask Navalny’s would-be killers.”
As I mentioned, this is CNN’s first Oscar win after previously being nominated five times.
Yeoh’s speech
Did best actress winner Michelle Yeoh take a shot at CNN’s Don Lemon during her acceptance speech Sunday night? After winning for her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Yeoh told the audience, “This is proof that dreams — dream big, and dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you’re ever past your prime.”
That line was met by thunderous applause.
Last month, Lemon said on “CNN This Morning” that 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wasn’t in her prime, adding, “a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”
Lemon later apologized for his comments and was sidelined by the show for two days.
CNN talked about the Oscars on Monday morning’s newscast, but no one, most notably Lemon, made a mention of Yeoh’s comments about women not being past their prime.
Oscar thoughts
Here are a few insightful and good pieces following Sunday night’s Academy Awards:
- The Los Angeles Times’ Justin Chang with “The Oscars’ best picture might seem radical. But it’s as traditional as they come.”
- The New York Times’ Stephanie Goodman with “Best and Worst Moments From the 2023 Oscars.”
- The Washington Post’s Emily Yahr and Sonia Rao with “Oscars 2023: 10 things to know, from a heartwarming comeback story to an excruciating red carpet interview.”
- The Hollywood Reporter’s Daniel Fienberg with “Critic’s Notebook: The 95th Academy Awards Were Mercifully Low on Drama, Movingly High on Emotion.”
- For The Ringer, Miles Surrey with “The Winners and Losers of the 2023 Oscars.”
- TV ratings were decent. ABC said the telecast averaged 18.7 million viewers — a 12% jump from last year. But that’s nowhere close to 1998 — the year “Titanic” cleaned up — when more than 55 million tuned in. The Oscar telecast hasn’t drawn even 30 million since 2017.
- Oh, one final note, host Jimmy Kimmel took a shot at Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, who has downplayed the attacks on Jan. 6 after being given access to 40,000 hours of footage from that day. Kimmel, talking about the best film editing Oscar category, said, “Anyone who has ever received a text message from their father knows how important editing is. Editors do amazing things. Editors can turn 44,000 hours of violent insurrection footage into a respectful sightseeing tour of the Capitol. Their work is underappreciated.”
This is horrible. I’ll hang up and listen.
Well, this is just rotten. A sports talk radio host in Syracuse was fired for being too critical of university sports teams — teams that definitely deserve to be criticized. Brent Axe was booted by Galaxy Media Partners because he was too negative.
Now, mind you, the reason for Axe’s firing isn’t speculation. Galaxy president and CEO Ed Levine came out and admitted it.
Levine told Syracuse.com’s Chris Carlson, “I had a problem with the content of the show. I’m an SU fan. I’m sorry, but I bleed Orange. I’m not going to apologize for that, and I think a fair reading of the Orange is appropriate. I understand (Galaxy has) a business relationship (with Syracuse), that coach (Jim) Boeheim and I are personal friends and he’s an investor in my company. I understand and acknowledge all of that. We’ve called it pretty fair, and I would argue we’ve been tough on SU when the on-field or off-field events warrant it. I just think over the past six months it took a different tone and became overly dark and negative. I don’t think that’s what Syracuse fans want to hear.”
Wow, there’s a lot to chew on there. Boeheim is the legendary men’s basketball coach at Syracuse who stepped down last week after 47 years as head coach. But it’s not clear if Boeheim had any hand in the decision to fire Axe.
Axe told Carlson, “I had a responsibility to give an honest, fair and thorough opinion to my audience. I certainly wasn’t perfect, but I don’t regret anything about the approach of the show. We put listeners on the air, and we gave them the opportunity to say what they needed to say. I don’t have any regrets.”
I haven’t heard Axe’s show, but you can’t blame him for being critical of the two major sports programs. The basketball team lost five of its final six games, eight of its final 12, went 17-15 on the season and finished ninth in the ACC. They did not make the 68-team NCAA tournament.
Meanwhile, the football team won its first six games last season, but then lost six of its final seven, including a loss in its bowl game.
What the heck is there positive to talk about? Is this Little League? Are we passing out sno-cones and orange slices after the games?
Axe is also a columnist for Syracuse.com, and Levine claimed Syracuse.com has it in for the university. Levine said, “Brent is a full-time employee of Syracuse.com. I believe Syracuse.com has an agenda in regards to Syracuse University. I don’t know what that agenda is, but that agenda was manifesting itself on our airwaves. We have no agenda. We’re in business with Syracuse University, but we call it straight down the line. What I said to Brent was I wish he covered Syracuse University with the same affection that he covered the Buffalo Bills.”
Maybe Axe says good things about the Bills because the Bills have been a really good team over the past four seasons.
However you slice it up, this is a really bad look for Levine and Galaxy Media Partners. To demand positive talk even when the teams are not good is unfair to hosts and insulting to the listeners.
BBC update
