Cowards Can’t Defend Gascón, Carano, Roseanne or Free Speech

It’s one of Hollywood’s biggest cliches.

So-and-so actor was “brave” to gain 30 lbs. for an Oscar-bait role. Ugh.

Even worse? Generic Actor took a courageous stand denouncing President Donald Trump at the Fill-In-the-Blank awards show.

Nonsense.

A bigger courage deficit exists elsewhere in La La Land. This one matters more, and the cowardice has real-world implications. 

Consider the all-out war against trans performer Karla Sofía Gascón. The Best Actress nominee from Netflix’s “Emilia Pérez” is under extreme Cancel Culture attack. Gascón’s past social media posts “resurfaced” courtesy of Sarah Hagi, a journalist eager to alienate the performer.

It worked.

Gascón’s problematic posts ran the gamut. A few reflect common-sense stances that clashed with progressive thinking. Example? Gascón called George Floyd a troubled soul who didn’t deserve deification.

The star also poked fun at activist Oscar galas, tweaking their virtue-signaling ways.

Other posts proved more malicious. Gascón mocked Islam as being incompatible with Western values. His very worst hot take?

Gascón didn’t “understand so much about the world war against Hitler, he simply had his opinion about Jews.”

Oof.

The media declared war on Gascón, ignoring how the star’s nomination represented a historical first for the Academy Awards. No other trans artist has won an acting nomination prior to “Emilia Pérez.”

A Gascón win could also double as a middle-fingered salute to Trump 2.0. (Could that explain the film’s 13 Oscar nominations?)

The media treated Gascón like a MAGA acolyte anyway.

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You’d think Gascón’s co-stars might have some sympathy for the nominee. Perhaps the Tweets didn’t reflect the performer’s true thoughts or, as with Roseanne Barr, were shared under the influence of one substance or another.

No acknowledgment that sometimes we say things in anger or frustration. Sometimes, we even feel the need to troll others online. Just ask X Troll King Michael Malice.

No. “Emilia Pérez” director Jacques Audiard threw Gascón under the bus in record time in a Deadline interview.

It’s very hard for me to think back to the work I did with Karla Sofía. The trust we shared, the exceptional atmosphere that we had on the set that was indeed based on trust. And when you have that kind of relationship and suddenly you read something that that person has said, things that are absolutely hateful and worthy of being hated, of course that relationship is affected. It’s as if you fall into a hole. Because what Karla Sofía said is inexcusable.

Audiard also ruled out speaking to Gascón moving forward. No forgiveness. No empathy.

It’s the same approach fellow “Emilia Pérez” Oscar nominee Zoe Saldaña took. The “Avatar” alum referred back to a prepared statement regarding her co-star: “I do not support any negative rhetoric of racism and bigotry towards any group of people.”

It sounds like artists trying to appease potential Oscar voters, not worrying about a co-star whom they spent endless hours trying to make the best film possible.

None of this is surprising. Hollywood cowardice is the norm. Consider how the stars cowered as Cancel Culture rolled over the artistic community. They sat still as trigger warnings stained everything from “Dumbo” to “Goodfellas.”

Not even the latter’s director, Martin Scorsese, addressed the matter.

AMC places trigger warning on Goodfellas. Instantly regrets it. pic.twitter.com/1MxEXQqcNy

— Andrew Klavan (@andrewklavan) May 25, 2024

Blackface-tinged sitcom episodes got memory-holed during the “summer of love” riots. Once again, no creative industry outcry.

At times, the cowardice took a personal turn.

The stars said nothing as Barr, a comedy pioneer who paved the way for future female comics, got erased from her sitcom for sharing one gross, racially-charged Tweet.

Not a word from Sarah Silverman, Amy Schumer, Samantha Bee or other feminist comics who benefited from Barr’s trailblazing ways. Nor did longtime co-stars, like John Goodman, defend her when it mattered most.

By the time Goodman did support Roseanne, her cancellation had been cast in stone.

Some stars lacked the courage to defend their own decisions.

When A-listers like Halle Berry and Scarlett Johansson came under Cancel Culture attacks for accepting trans character roles, they folded swiftly. Horror maestro Stephen King also buckled after woke soldiers attacked him for elevating merit above Identity Politics.

Heck, the only actor to speak out against the Academy’s new diversity rules, which elevate Identity Politics over artistry, was 70-something actor Richard Dreyfuss.

Cowards, all.

Perhaps the most cowardly behavoir came after Gina Carano’s cancellation.

The genial star of “The Mandalorian” refused Disney’s pleadings to avoid social media posts that were less than woke.

Carano preferred to speak her mind, and her digital comments weren’t cruel or hateful. They just contrasted with the industry’s groupthink. It’s a far cry from what Gascón shared online.

For that, Carano was eventually fired by the Mouse House and canceled across the entertainment industry. (She has yet to work in a traditional Hollywood production.)

By all accounts, Carano was well-liked by her “Mandalorian” co-stars. Yet none spoke up in her defense in the days following her dismissal. Nor did Hollywood’s loud and proud feminist brigade, the soldier-ettes who donned vagina hats during President Trump’s first term, run to her side.

Empowering? Hardly.

Co-star Bill Burr later spoke fondly of his time working with Carano. Once again, it was far too late at that point.

“She was an absolute sweetheart. Super nice f***ing person,” Burr said before suggesting that opinion could get him cancelled.

Expect more “courageous” stands come Oscar night from Hollywood’s best and brightest. It’s the only type of bravery they embrace.

The fictional kind.

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