Recent surveys say 75 percent of television viewers don’t like the snide remarks. They don’t like celebs and sports stars lecturing them. About political and social issues.
That probably won’t surprise you. Because there is a 75 percent chance you are one of the 75 percent. (All the kids in my math class were above average.)
As you know, the stars assault us with their political and social views most every chance they get. Oprah lectures Golden Globe viewers for 9 minutes. Whenever Robert DeNiro nears a microphone he rips into Donald Trump. NFL players demonstrate during the National Anthem.
Not to be outdone, the Grammy Awards fling anti-Trump skits at us. Hillary reads to us from an anti-Trump book. On various shows the stars implore us to support gun control and save-the-earth projects. They urge us to frog-march climate-change skeptics out of our lives.
Most of us don’t like this. That is what we tell pollsters.
Here is what surprises me: It is poor for business. Yet the business operators let it continue.
The Golden Globes is a business operation. As is – or are – the Oscars. As are the Grammies. The NFL is a massive business. Why then, do these businesses tolerate and even encourage behavior that damages them?
Why does CNN allow its celebs to perform scorched-earth attacks on the current administration? Its viewership numbers are abysmal. Surely they can see there is a connection between their hate-filled attacks and their anemic ratings.
The NFL did sweet little to squelch the player demonstrations this year. Viewership this season fell about 10 percent. Super Bowl viewership fell to a 7-year low.
The Screen Actors Guild Awards allowed the host to mock the first lady. Viewership was down 30 percent from last year.
The Grammy Awards, mentioned above, lost 24 percent of their audience from last year. Their viewership was at an all-time low.
The Golden Globe Awards lost viewers compared to last year. The Oscars were down a whopping 20 percent year-to-year. They experienced their worst viewership ever.
Oh, there are reasons and excuses for these declines. The viewing habits of Americans are changing. Their tastes are changing. The latest crop of movies is lackluster. The baby-boomer generation is doing whatever it is doing. And all that.
Set all of those reasons aside. What remains is political and social stuff. It is common in all of these productions. It amazes me that the business people who run these ventures don’t see this. Or if they see it, they still allow their employees to abuse the customers.
Make a list of the things you do for relaxation and entertainment. You watch movies or television shows. You watch sports. You dine out. You travel.
If you are like most people you probably feel abused if your wine steward tells you how to vote. You probably take offense if the waitress curls her nose when you add to global warming by ordering beef. The folks who own the restaurant would probably fire these servers.
You might think the guys who run the movie industry would sense that the Streeps, DeNiros and Streisands offend millions of customers. You might think they would tell them to foam a bit less at the mouth. You might think they would remind them that “These are the customers! Without them we are nothing. Yes, many of them agree with you. But many don’t. So why tick off any of them if you don’t have to?”
I don’t understand behavior like this. Which is one reason why I am not a movie star or NFL quarterback. One of many reasons.
From Tom…as in Morgan.
Find Tom on Facebook. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.