President Trump shared harsh critiques of past Academy Awards
During his daily press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Sean Spicer revealed that President Trump and First Lady Melania will not be watching the Academy Awards this year. The president will instead host his Governor's Ball that night. Spicer said that "I think Hollywood is known for being rather far to the left in its opinions."
This is coming after actress Meryl Streep took the opportunity to slam Trump in her acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes. Trump fired back on Twitter soon after, saying she was overrated and a "Hillary flunky":
Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
This isn't the first time Trump has spoken out against award shows; he's had a habit of doing so long before his presidency.
In 2013, he said he would live-tweet the show "by popular demand":
By popular demand, I will be tweeting on the very tainted Academy Awards tonight!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2013
He continued the trend in 2014 and beyond:
Which is worse and which is more dishonest - the #Oscars or the Emmys?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2014
This is Amateur Night - who the hell is in charge of this production? #Oscars
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2014
He even took the opportunity to critique then-President Obama at the same time:
Was President Obama in charge of this years Academy Awards - they remind me of the ObamaCare website! #Oscars.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2014
Check out his Academy Awards tweets:
In 2015, Trump released a video on Instagram saying he should host the show:
Trump to host #Oscars? #TrumpVlog
A post shared by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Feb 23, 2015 at 8:10am PST
"The Academy Awards last night were absolutely terrible ... boring, ugly sets, everything," he said. "I have the perfect host for next year: me."
Now that he's president, though, that probably won't happen -- and he has the Governor's Ball that night, anyway.