Trump criticizes Parasite Best Picture Oscar win: 'Was it good? I don't know'
Well, Donald Trump is clearly not part of the #BongHive.
At a rally in Colorado on Thursday, the president criticized Parasite’s Best Picture win at this year’s Oscars, seemingly objecting to an international film taking the top prize.
“How bad were the Academy Awards this year? Did you see it?” Trump asked the crowd, prompting boos and jeers. “And the winner is… a movie from South Korea! What the hell was that all about?”
“We got enough problems with South Korea with trade,” he continued. “On top of it, they give him best movie of the year? Was it good? I don’t know. Let’s get Gone With the Wind. Can we get Gone With the Wind back, please? Sunset Boulevard. So many great movies. The winner is from South Korea. I thought it was Best Foreign Film, right? Best Foreign Movie? Did this ever happen before?”
To answer his question, no, it didn’t; that’s kind of the point. Parasite became the first non-English-language film to win Best Picture, while also taking home the newly named Best International Film trophy along with Best Original Screenplay and Best Director for Bong Joon Ho. Many took the film’s Oscar success as a testament to the universal, barrier-crossing power of cinema and to an increasingly globalized film community. (It’s worth noting here that Gone With the Wind, while widely acclaimed, has frequently sparked controversy for its perceived insensitive treatment of race relations and sympathetic portrayal of the Confederacy during the Civil War.)
Parasite’s U.S. distributor, Neon, hit back at Trump on Twitter, writing, “Understandable, he can’t read.”
Incidentally, Trump appears to be a loyal viewer of the Oscars, and used to live-tweet the event every year in typically Trumpian fashion.
If you haven’t seen Parasite yet, the film is still playing in theaters nationwide.
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