USA: HOLLYWOOD: REACTION TO HONORARY OSCAR FOR KAZAN

(22 Mar 1999) English/Nat
Hollywood had a mixed reaction to Elia Kazan's honorary Oscar.
The 89-year old director has been criticised for naming names in a government investigation of communist influence on Hollywood more than four decades ago.
While some leading Hollywood stars supported the Oscar, others disagreed with the decision because of Kazan's controversial past.
As the stars arrived for the 71st Academy Awards ceremony, they were met by hundreds of protesters, including blacklisted writers.
Elia Kazan's lifetime achievement Oscar has become a point of controversy because he named names of his comrades in the Communist Party before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952.
The protesters denounced the 89-year-old director as a destroyer of careers and lives.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The billion people are going to know that there are people in Los Angeles who will not be silent when a confessed snitch, stool pigeon gets an award. You can't separate his art from his life and you can't separate his life from the ones he ruined."
SUPER CAPTION: VOXPOP
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Kazan is nothing more than a lowly stool pigeon of the McCarthy-ers. He rather has his own personal attributes and his fancy cars and the hell with his fellow workers. He is a disgrace to the human kind."
SUPER CAPTION: Joe Nekoziz, blacklisted writer
The Oscar-winning director's movies include "Gentlemen's Agreement" and "On the Waterfront", the 1954 film that made Marlon Brando a movie star.
The stars themselves were divided on the issue.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It would be really interesting to see what's on his mind, I'm sure there are a lot of things flooding through it right now.You know he certainly had to pay an awful price because for a business he clearly loved so much he must feel very outside and I can empathize with that feeling of having to get up there in front of a lot of people. I mean the expectations that people are putting on this seem monumental right now."
SUPER CAPTION: Kevin Costner, actor
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I didn't know people made movies like his and movies about people like me and it was an extraordinary and life changing experience. But I am violently opposed to everything that was done by the unamerican activities committee and I feel sad about his testimony."
SUPER CAPTION: Patrick Stewart
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I think it's good that there is a hoop la la. Because it shows we live in a democracy. It's freedom of speech and ,you know, we are honoring an extraordinary artist. Period. That's what this evening is about."
SUPER CAPTION: Liam Neeson
During the ceremony itself, some stars give Kazan a standing ovations while others did not clap in protest.
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[@ChildOfTheFlower]

And they all gave Polanski a standing ovation three years later while petitioning to have him back.

[@nonh1]

So?

[@Woodsaras]

@BEWARE OF WD so?

[@adrianfierro9446]

Hollywood's hypocrisy

[@fiandrhi]

You don't know what the fuck you're talking about. There were even bigger protests and walkouts with Polanski's Oscar honor. Idiot.

[@azimisyauqieabdulwahab9401]

Kazan, Polanski, Allen, Wilder & Benton is idiot zionist

[@steveb1164]

He not only named names, he bragged about it.

[@melissahouse3488]

Good!!! Communism resulted in over a hundred million starved, froze, and worked to death!!! I'm sure if it had been you and your family, you wouldn't consider it silly nonsense at the possibility that spreads!!! An it did spread like a lethal disease!!!

[@romanboxing3959]

Good!!!!

[@trainsplanesmore]

And made a whole movie, "On the Waterfront," defending his actions.

[@kaykay865]

Commos undermining usa

[@deb310red]

So what? Communists suck.

[@muslit]

You don't see the people whose lives he ruined.

[@melissahouse3488]

No but I know many including my family who died due to communism and that terror hell!!! That garbage spreads like a lethal disease and the hatred is only due to his influence on American society. They couldn't have him threatening their socialist agenda and aspirations! They don't condemn sexual predators though!!! They give them Grammy's and Oscar's. Had he given Trump's name and the like, I'm sure you'd be kissing his rear beyond the grave!!!

[@rickvinson8324]

They ruined their owned lives. Hypocrites. Working for that big, Hollywood dollar, while committed to a philosophy that is the antithesis of labor for profit.

[@muslit]

Fool, very few were actual members of the communist party. And as far I know, it's not illegal to belong to the Communist Party USA, or the Proud Boys for that matter. Or are you one of those Trumpettes who are aching for an authoritarian government that would outlaw such organization? @@rickvinson8324

[@thl205]

@@rickvinson8324 the only hypocrisy I see is those who claim to be pro-freedom punishing people for different political views

[@racourdav]

@@rickvinson8324 So true! Can't have it both ways

[@CommieGobeldygook]

One genius director names names to save his career? 50 years later, he gets called an evil backstabber. Another rapes a 12 year old (and others) and escape to Europe? 30 years later, he wins an Oscar and gets a standing ovation. Hollywood is a cesspool.

[@deb310red]

Hollywood hypocrisy

[@jonathanvoth1404]

The only reason they gave him this award was to bring him back out to talk shit.

[@Mercutiossword]

I will always separate art from artist but a lifetime achievement award includes your lifetime by definition

[@josephpaul4548]

A lifetime of patriotism and opposition to Soviet barbarism.

[@Mercutiossword]

@@josephpaul4548 don't try to pretend huac was a good thing.

[@arvplus]

@@josephpaul4548 "Soviet barbarism" what a curious comment, like the atomic bomb wasn´t the worst crime ever done.

[@deb310red]

Those who chose to embrace Communism got their just desserts 🍨.

[@pjz7]

Liam gets it.

[@ruly8153]

Liam is the man...

[@wolfstar675]

Yet you people can’t give Polanski the same treatment.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

If Kazan had been a Nazi and outed his friends, we wouldn't have had this battle over his character.

[@anoooooj]

Art is about 1000x less years important than solidarity

[@melissahouse3488]

​@@wolfstar675Polanski is a predator!!! Elia is a HERO!!! ❤️🇺🇲❤️ Especially to those of us who experienced communism and survived. That evil spreads worse than the plague!!! I don't blame politicians for being fearful of it popularizing here. It was the agenda of the elitist's which is why they spit hatred at this man but love their sexual pedophiles and murderers and evils sane America doesn't even know about. The cult underworld. Elia shifted society eloquently through his art, these fanatical socialist rejects are few & far between because most people are fond of his work and see the haters are hypocrites and commie loving trolls.

[@richardhoffman5769]

All of those actors attacking him would have named names

[@kimmypfeiffer9130]

all the actors attacking him are the shitsucking commies

[@jacksoncowsert6964]

That’s a presumption with little backing.

[@hiddensword9387]

Many didn't and some may have died for it, John Garfield is one rumoured example.

[@non_brewed_condiment]

a ridiculously stupid thing to say

[@epm1012]

God the comment section here is such sickly cognitive dissonance. Just tragic to watch

[@matheuslima9445]

Without commumists workers wouldnt have any rights in capitalist countries. Thank you all of them and others that was called commie just because stood up against the status quo. And we are going anywhere. We will keep fighting against injustice in this world.

[@faceswithin]

Live in a communist country stop being unhappy in capitalism country

[@dikenlikalp]

@Max Randolph So you are happy in a capitalist country so far, good for you.

[@luisllorens70]

Workers in communist countries have no rights.

[@mclovinmclovin5395]

Churchill and Lloyd George were the firsts to give any rights to workers. The only think the communists gave workers is misery and gulags.

[@lilbtyt7928]

@@faceswithindamn dumbasses like you can barely seem to read.

[@magicknight13]

that man at 0:33 gets it!!!!

[@AntagonistVisionII]

Actually, he doesn't get it. Just pure stupidity.

[@Eric-nr8gw]

That babbling gawk? Haha. Don't think so.

[@browningautomatic2393]

he is a moron.

[@jonathancooper4914]

He does. I couldn’t word it better myself.

[@jaymorgenthal9479]

A RAT pure and simple.

[@muggsyaxton8085]

Because he opposed an evil, murderous ideology?

[@juantsu2000]

@@muggsyaxton8085 Because he sold out his comrades, his FRIENDS.

[@DMalltheway]

@@muggsyaxton8085Different political views and destroying other peoples lives because of it

[@muggsyaxton8085]

@DMalltheway communism killed millions of people. So no tears shed for clueless leftists promoting it.

[@anon9060]

​​@@DMalltheway They did that to themselves when they committed sedition against the US for the reds.

[@peterlooles1137]

Elia Kazan was a great director who changed cinema for ever. He deserved this award.

[@willmickel71]

Kazan did nothing wrong.

[@robertpolanco1973]

@@willmickel71 - Well, NOT EVERYONE agrees on that issue regarding Kazan.

[@love_agapi_m3976]

Well naming names was not right.

[@robertpolanco1973]

@@love_agapi_m3976 - I agree with you. But so was the House Committee on Un-American Activities as well. It was organized to intimidate and falsely expose people into naming names as if it were a show trial.

[@GigaChadh976]

love_agapi_m It absolutely was.

[@accavanos]

Liam, hes an extorinary artist because he ratted everyone so he can direct the good movies

[@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster]

I think it must be said that Kazan's wife had the best response to the joke of comparing outing communist to a ''witch hunt''. “What’s going on here and now is not to be compared with the witch trials of that time,” . “Those witches did not exist. Communists do. Here, and everywhere in the world. It’s a false parallel. Witch hunt! The phrase would indicate that there are no Communists in the government, none in the big trade unions, none in the press, none in the arts, none sending money from Hollywood to Twelfth Street. No one who was in the Party and left uses that phrase. They know better.”

[@jonathancooper4914]

Talk about rubbing salt in the wound…

[@Mauro_B._Vieira.]

Those were Mcartism times.

[@porko882]

I don't think you are at fault for "ratting" someone out as much as you shouldn't punished for cowardice in a time of war It may show that you are week minded but a week person but even the strongest mind will break under extreme stress or because of threats to his own life or the lives of his family. Is it selfish? sure but if there's anything to be selfish over its your own freedom. The people in the wrong are the ones that mistook communism for the enemy and even they can be forgiven consider their most recent exposure to communism.

[@kimmypfeiffer9130]

katyn forrest massacre, holodomor, terror famine, the rise of communist china and the millions of dead chinese and russians....but hey, communism is just misunderstood and was in no way influenced by harry hopkiinis or alger hiss...go learn history or continue to sound like a goddamn sociopath...venona proved mccarthy right and there are still brainwashed mouthpieces repeating the BIG LIES

[@melissahouse3488]

If you'd existed in a communistic state you would know it is the enemy. It spreads and kills worse than the plague. My relatives in Siberia will inform you if you don't think so!!! I love cushy cozy types talking communism who don't know a thing about the real deal and didn't experience it. Elia was an artistic genius, his stories brilliantly portrayed, he wasn't willing to protect the socialist agenda. That makes him a true American and hero as far as sane America is concerned!!! ❤️🇺🇲❤️ I'd joined a Czech club at Williams college down the road where I reside. I met a math professor named Olga who was from Prague. She had known Elia briefly, and according to her he was a figure you'd never forget. In a delightful, positive way. Apparently he had a way because he managed to exude performances that captivated audiences and told stories like no other director could vision. Hollywood could use that unique talent currently and make some films exposing communism and the horror it was and continues to be!!! I think they've done every holocaust story possible and then some. Ignoring such horror doesn't mean it didn't happen or is going away. I only seen one film about Stalin's madness, and one about the Holodomar, but they were both independent and foreign produced. It's clear Hollywood and leftists have a love for communism and what is going on!!! They don't want movies showing what it is. They made this man a pariah. The first victim of the elitist socialist agenda!

[@dylangamble4810]

Kazan was definitely the most talented one there.

[@JamesForster1123]

He was also a massive rat who sold out his friends to save his own skin but yes he was a talented director

[@Themusic892]

Liam 👏

[@trainzactivist7245]

Say it loud, say it proud; the lie is dead, Hollywood was always red - razorfist

[@8lata]

Oh come on. Elia gave us the best of Marlon. And there's nothing to forgive. Stop being petty.

[@neelabhraroy4238]

Can't people let politics slide for even one split goddamn second? That man deserved that honorary award. I mean come on, On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, Gentleman's Agreement, Splendor in the Grass, East of Eden, Kazan made some of the most iconic films in Hollywood. He is one of the greatest directors there ever was. People should just accept the fact that he was getting an award for his work and not political ideas or testaments

[@mstomatito007]

It's beyond politics. It's about harming your own colleagues!!!! They lost their jobs and freedom just because they had a different perspective. How painful is that!? Also, most of them didnt belong to a specific party. What a shame.

[@BlackIce3190]

Constanza Orellana They were funded by and supported the fucking Soviet Union. They encouraged violence by unions and blacklisted anyone that dared to not toe their line. They deserved it.

[@GoWithHim1]

@@BlackIce3190 You're showing a massive amount of ignorance on the subject.

[@Woodsaras]

@@BlackIce3190 anything to feel better about destroying peoples lives.

[@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster]

@@mstomatito007 those colleges were more than willing to do the same or worse look at what happened to Albert Maltz

[@robertpolanco1973]

Personally, I have absolutely NO RESPECT for the likes of Elia Kazan for what they did in selling out in the name of the cruel House Un-American Activities Committee for 30 years in this country. Even to this day, McCarthyism is still alive in America! At least, I am glad that people like Kazan are DEAD FOREVER!

[@robertpolanco1973]

@alterdestiny - Kazan WAS a "truly great artist" but his BIG MISTAKE was that he betrayed his friends and colleagues for HUAC in the name of McCarthyism!

[@zufgh]

@@robertpolanco1973 Some would they their BIG MISTAKE was betraying their country in the name of communism. Screw them.

[@robertpolanco1973]

@@zufgh - You know what, you pathetic fool, people like you are obviously very stupid and paranoid about what Communism is! So I say: SCREW YOU and OTHERS LIKE YOU!

[@lkb4781]

Robert Polanco yeah it’s not like communism has killed hundreds of millions of people.

[@lkb4781]

Robert Polanco if you can’t understand why people would have a negative view of communism then you are an idiot and you should keep your mouth shut when adults are talking.

[@leafyutube]

I have no problem with giving up communists. What has communism ever contributed to the world apart from death and despair?

[@kenzawilliams]

And what has capitalism contributed?

[@leafyutube]

@@kenzawilliams The western economies and 1000000 X better life than communism.

[@cesarzpontu8886]

@@kenzawilliams the fact that you don't have empty shelves in shops

[@robotube7361]

@@cesarzpontu8886 Just like it happens every 10 years in US? Oh wait I mean not having money to even enter a store at all. member the great depression or the 2008 recession ?

[@cesarzpontu8886]

@@robotube7361 in communist countries you have recession all the time.

[@Unpainted_Huffhines]

Elia Kazan did nothing wrong.

[@robertpolanco1973]

@Unpainted Huffhines - Elia Kazan was DEAD WRONG on naming names for HUAC in the 1950's!

[@Unpainted_Huffhines]

@@robertpolanco1973 He was DEAD RIGHT on that account. Removing filthy communists from whatever they've burrowed themselves into is ALWAYS a societal good.

[@robertpolanco1973]

@@Unpainted_Huffhines YOU ARE AN IGNORANT RIGHT-WING FOOL! Elia Kazan was a pathetic jackass who made such a stupid move in doing what he did for the dreadful House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950's! So SHAME ON YOU as well as that bastard, Elia Kazan, too! It's no wonder that the Cold War was the biggest joke in all of history!

[@Unpainted_Huffhines]

@@robertpolanco1973 NO, YOU ARE AN IGNORANT LEFT-WING FOOL! Elia Kazan was a patriotic hero who defended his country from the insidious communist scum that was infesting Hollywood with Soviet propaganda! So no, SHAME ON YOU! as well as all your godless bastard filth comrades too! It's no wonder the pure evil subhuman waste side of the Cold War lost, as your ilk is always doomed to lose!

[@robertpolanco1973]

@@Unpainted_Huffhines You know what, you goddamn jackass, what you said about Elia Kazan and the rest of your comment is pathetic and even stupid! Typical right-wing talking points that only show your filthy rotten attitude about what happened with the House Un-American Activities Committee during its 30-year crusade against those who happen to have political beliefs that are different from others! I also think that you are typical of right-wing scumbags who are even intolerant of anybody who isn't like them in this country! It's no wonder that such bastards like you are even so paranoid of the so-called "Communist menace" in the biggest joke of an era called the Cold War! #ColdWarSucks

[@moonlightfitz]

💀

[@dontcallmeindymorning]

The emotional trauma associated with the urge to support a contentious belief when in a contradictory position. A love for industry he contributed so much too and a fondness for those who worked with and amongst. A genuine fear, based on his interpretation of oppressive political mechanisms, that a strong communist influence in America would eventually bring about outright fascism, persecution and that it might lead to a brutal and dictatorial style of government. A wiser person might simply have (at some cost) evaded providing affirmative answers so as to implicate and might not have carried (religiously inclined) feelings of guilt if forced to evade questioning. A stronger person might have attempted to accuse those asking the questions of false accusation by way of contrived enquiry. An enlightened person might have seen right through the quieter ambitions and acclaim seeking of a wayward politician engaged in the support of muckraking, using both fear and suspicion to gain personal reward with, and that person might have felt betrayed by the system supporting it.

[@haasklaw764]

Should we not criticize communists and call them out ?

[@fede018]

It was all fear mongering and witch hunting

[@haasklaw764]

@@fede018 Lol no.

[@bigbdavis]

@@haasklaw764 Kazan's wife had the best response to the joke of comparing outing communist to a ''witch hunt''. “What’s going on here and now is not to be compared with the witch trials of that time,” she said to me and, first chance she got, to Miller. “Those witches did not exist. Communists do. Here, and everywhere in the world. It’s a false parallel. Witch hunt! The phrase would indicate that there are no Communists in the government, none in the big trade unions, none in the press, none in the arts, none sending money from Hollywood to Twelfth Street. No one who was in the Party and left uses that phrase. They know better.”

[@stephenjones1488]

@@haasklaw764 yes it was lol.

[@Notna-e5s]

Nah cause they're correct

[@louis-philippesmith335]

Nepotism Jew..

[@jamesstevenson7725]

Honor and Courage not Kazan nor his admirers

[@nahuelzapatrustegui6695]

Honor for Dalton Trumbo !!

[@anoooooj]

Kevin Costner is lame af

[@luisllorens70]

The only people that call others "snitches" are criminals.

[@shyladare]

Right. Snitches are criminals.

[@robertpolanco1973]

@Luis Llorens - That is a rather STUPID way of saying it! That is, unless you were referring to the Mafia!

[@jacksoncowsert6964]

That doesn’t make sense. What makes them criminals? He wasn’t “snitching” on them over a crime. 😂

[@666kingdrummer]

Well, at least we know who the Communists are.

[@romanboxing3959]

Thank you Eli Kazan for FUCKING OVER THE COMMIES!!!!

[@nahuelzapatrustegui6695]

Psycho !!!

[@aleksthegreat4130]

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

[@browningautomatic2393]

exactly.

[@jamespaton3853]

Eli Kazan directed such films as On The Waterfront , A Streetcar named Desire, and East of Eden . He was one of the greatest directors in American Cinema History. He named people to the House Unamerican activities committee. He actually had a pact with some of his friends that they would name each other, an attempt to wipe out each others testimony. It is very easy for the privileged highly paid actors and filmmakers of today to look back 50 years and condemn the actions of a man who at that time made a decision he believed would save some of his friends. The Holyer than thou brigade march again.

[@draganpaunovic5596]

gentlemen's agreement Oscar 1940

[@steveb1164]

There was no "pact". He was a despicable human being.

[@moviesbye9294]

Get over it, jeez!

[@steveb1164]

Tell that to the people whose lives he destroyed.

[@jonathancooper4914]

Never.

[@kimmypfeiffer9130]

so sad to see how many people never learned their history

[@jacksoncowsert6964]

the history is that he ratted out communists…how does that make him a hero and what alternative history are you referring to?

[@juanchomalvavisco2351]

Elia Kazan did nothing wrong

[@misterhot9163]

He snitched, and ruined lives just to save his own skin.