Oscars: Too liberal and too Mexican for the Conservatives

The success of Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu at this year’s Oscars did not sit well with U.S. conservatives, who are upset by a ceremony that they consider too liberal and where the rights of illegal immigrants were the protagonists.

Iñarritu won the top three awards for best film, best director and best screenplay, while his compatriot Emmanuel Lubezki won the best cinematography award, all for the film ‘Birdman’ which emerged as the big winner of the evening.

“It was a great night for Mexico, as usual this country, you know, the whole thing is ridiculous,” business tycoon Donald Trump said in a statement Monday to Fox News network and did not hide his surprise and frustration at the awards won by Iñarritu’s team at the Oscars.

American conservatives hoped to see Clint Eastwood’s patriotic blockbuster ‘American Sniper’ triumph but which only won the best sound editing award.

“The Oscars are a sad joke, very much like our President. So many things are wrong!”, Trump tweeted, while conservative broadcast personality Sean Hannity tweeted “AMERICAN Sniper snubbed by liberal hwood Predictable.”

Patricia Arquette who won the best supporting actress award for ‘Boyhood’ demanded equal rights and wages for women in her speech which was also met with criticism and she was accused of not knowing what she was talking about.

Iñarritu dedicated the best film award to Mexicans on both sides of the border and said, “I just pray they can be treated with the same dignity and respect of the ones that came before and built this incredible, immigrant nation.”

The Director of Immigration and National Campaigns at the National Council of La Raza, Clarissa Martínez told Efe that the filmmaker’s gesture was extraordinary, both for the forum, and for reminding Americans of the migratory origin of the United States.

For Alex Nogales, the President and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Iñarritu and his fellow directors Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro offer a very positive Latin image, removed from stereotypes, “especially in the USA, where there are so many prejudices against Latinos,” he said in the same vein.

While presenting the best picture award to Iñarritu, actor Sean Penn asked, “Who gave this sonofabitch his green card?,” a joke that offended many viewers although the Mexican filmmaker took it in the right spirit saying it was an old joke between the two.

“It is a joke. He (Penn) is not racist, is not conservative, he is a loudmouth that has no limits. Those who have another agenda, they will use this comment,” said Nogales.