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Hollywood’s other Cancel Culture roared again this week — as once again, showbiz put up the shutters.
If it is true that history repeats itself — first as tragedy, then as farce, then what do we say of the third time?
The third time is the…ninth season of a sitcom whose stars and audience have long since moved on, whose wit curdled years ago and that seemingly exists just to soak every last rating point out of elderly viewers permanently programmed for that time slot.
That sounds like about where we are now in our tale of Hollywood history.
Way back when, when the first round of cancellations and postponements came, they were greeted with the shock of genuine disbelief and disaster! Delaying James Bond!?? No giant live awards show gala/spectacles! How can this be!
A couple years later…and this week COVID cancel culture roared back:
Gone too, the Critics Choice awards! Gone – the BAFTA tea party! The Governors awards! The National Board of Review Gala! The AFI Luncheon and the Palm Springs Film Festival — two critical, dare we say, indispensable stops on the awards journey.
And what is more, just two weeks after Spider-Man saved movies, mighty Morbius is pushed back like some unwanted lunch date, scheduled ages ago at a moment of weakness, when the world was still young and full of hope.
Remember when we believed there was nothing in the world more immutable, less subject to the forces of nature, than a movie release calendar? More shuffles will no doubt follow shortly.
If two years back, these and like announcements were greeted with shrieks and lamentations, the sound this week thundering across our cultural skies is a great collective shrug.
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The Ankler’s Got People Talking!!
On the Norman Mailer story in the NY Times, the LAT , EW and Book and Film Globe to name a few.
And in LA Magazine over the fracas with Penske Media.
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