If you watched last night’s Golden Globes telecast, you probably came away from the show with two clear impressions:
1. White people really, really like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
2. Meryl Streep is an absolute boss.
Streep went off on Donald Trump during her acceptance speech for the Cecil B. Demille Award for lifetime achievement, and naturally, the president-elect responded by calling her an “overrated movie person,” which was not the least bit unexpected.
Surprisingly, however, Streep was also dragged by a woman who’s been an outspoken critic of Trump’s throughout his brief and bafflingly successful political career.
Meghan McCain, daughter of Arizona Senator John McCain, is no great fan of Trump’s.
Stands to reason, as early in his campaign, Trump bashed McCain for not being a “real war hero” because he was captured in combat.
What makes less sense is Meghan’s assessment of Trump’s Electoral College victory, and her belief that Mery Streep is somehow to blame:
“This Meryl Streep speech is why Trump won. And if people in Hollywood don’t start recognizing why and how – you will help him get re-elected,” Meghan tweeted.
Naturally, she was quickly dragged for her bizarrely tone deaf political commentary, mostly by folks who pointed out the obvious flaws in her logic (Clinton won the popular vote; very few Americans derive their political beliefs from awards show speeches, etc.).
Fortunately, one shining diamond in the overgrown rough of social media went the extra mile by not only calling out Meghan for the idiocy of her comment, but also articulating exactly why the tweet is particularly dumb coming from her.
If you’re not familiar with the work of Billy Eichner, his scathing takedown of the selectively conservative Ms. McCain is a solid introduction to his outspoken brand of commentary:
“Um she asked him not to make fun of disabled people and advocated for the freedom of the press and the arts you f-cking moron,” Eichner tweeted at McCain, seemingly not really holding anything back.
McCain replied:
“Calling republicans like me “fucking morons” is a great way for Hollywood to bridge the cultural divide. Enjoy your bubble,” which prompted Eichner to shoot back:
“I rather live in a bubble than live with people who don’t feel a need to respect the disabled, freedom of speech & the arts!!”
And he didn’t stop there:
“Oh & another message from my bubble-can u ask dad to give back the MILLIONS he’s received from the NRA? MERYL F-CKING STREEP!” Eichner tweeted, before dropping the mic by adding that he was off to the Netflix-Weinstein after-party,
Interestingly, Streep never mentioned Trump by name, but her comments left little doubt about whom she was referring to when she spoke of a bully who’s soon to assume a frightening level of power:
“Disrespect invites disrespect,” Streep said to applause from her peers.
“Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”
Not hard to see why Meghan got dragged for somehow taking issue with Streep’s comments.
