Richard Gere was banned from the Oscars far longer – Latest News
That’s wealthy.
Many film followers have been shocked to be taught on Thursday that Richard Gere — good, likable, “Pretty Woman” Richard Gere — as soon as acquired a 20-year ban from attending the Oscars.
Twenty years? Must have been very critical!
What outrageous offense did the 76-year-old star decide to deserve being barred from the Academy Awards for 26% of his life?
Richard Gere, seen right here on the crimson carpet with then spouse Cindy Crawford, was banned from the Oscars for 20 years. Getty Images
While presenting the award for artwork direction in 1993, Gere went off-script and gave a speech just about amounting to “Free Tibet.”
The renegade actor, who’s a working towards Buddhist and a buddy of the Dalai Lama, inspired Chinese then-leader Deng Xiaoping to “take his troops and take the Chinese away from Tibet and allow people to live as free independent people again.”
You know, the kind of loud and undesirable political statements celebrities make all the time at the Oscars.
And but hypocritical Hollywood made Gere the fall man, and for expressing comparatively tame views at that. Two a long time! What utter lunacy.
Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on reside TV, however solely acquired a 10-year ban from the Academy Awards. AFP through Getty Images
Appallingly, Will Smith’s ban from the Oscars for slapping Chris Rock on reside TV solely lasts a mere 10 years. His Independence Day from being iced out of the Dolby Theater rolls round in 2032. And the Fresh Prince of Misdemeanor Battery dedicated an precise crime.
Of course, I, like each single one who nonetheless watches the show, want the expertise would simply shut up. This isn’t C-SPAN. You’re wealthy and well-known film stars in designer frocks and tuxes being handed trophies — not Nelson Mandela.
And, as Ricky Gervais so correctly instructed the viewers at the 2020 Golden Globes, “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world.”
However, if the producers kicked out all people who received on their obnoxious soapbox, the Academy Awards could possibly be held at the In-N-Out Burger on Sunset.
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins spoke out about the US authorities at the 1993 Oscars — the identical 12 months as Gere’s remark about Tibet — but she was welcomed back three years later. Getty Images
Joaquin Phoenix is only one of many celebs who’ve rambled about politics at the Academy Awards and confronted no penalties. John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock
Self-righteous politics are, sadly, as a lot of a baked-in fixture of the Oscars as Meryl Streep in the entrance row. Winners and presenters jabber on about immigration, climate change, pay equality and veganism 12 months after agonizing 12 months.
At the exact same 1993 ceremony as Gere’s Tibet lecture, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins criticized the US authorities for holding HIV-positive Haitian refugees at Guantanamo Bay. She was banned for all times, which turned out to imply three years.
When Joaquin Phoenix accepted the best actor prize for “Joker” in 2019, he went on a batty PETA-approved tirade about milk.
“We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby,” stated the deranged star of a “Batman” spinoff as viewers stared on, gobsmacked.
Yet no rescinded invitations for kooky dairy denier Joaquin.
Nobody booted Guy Pearce back in March for his Free Palestine pin.
And no one admonished host Jimmy Kimmel when he threw in last-minute jabs at President Trump in 2024. While he didn’t emcee the following 12 months, ABC nonetheless supplied him the job.
This nonsense has been happening without end.
Years after the ban, Gere now says he “didn’t take it particularly personally.” Getty Images
In 1978, there was no blackballing of Vanessa Redgrave when she finger-wagged at “Zionist hoodlums.”
Hell, Marlon Brando wasn’t even banned in 1973 when he famously had Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather settle for his best actor award for “The Godfather.” In 2022, the Academy truly apologized to Littlefeather.
Classy Gere isn’t demanding a “sorry” from anyone although. He’s not too bent out of form about his awful therapy.
“I didn’t take it particularly personally,” he instructed Variety. “I didn’t think there were any bad guys in the situation. I do what I do, and I certainly don’t mean anyone any harm.”
Or perhaps Gere realized that 20 years of not having to sit down by the three-and-a-half-hour Oscars or reply interviewers’ moronic questions on the crimson carpet was, actually, a priceless present.
