On Sunday night at the Golden Globe Awards, Meryl Streep went after President-elect Donald Trump. In an eloquent speech in which she didn’t even mention his name, Streep made her dismay at his meteoric political rise clear, saying:

There was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. There was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it. I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life.

And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.

Streep’s speech–love it or hate–caught Trump’s attention. And as is his nature, he tweeted about it.

Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never “mocked” a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him…….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

“groveling” when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017

But Streep is as beloved as Trump is orange, and so a lot of supporters on Twitter decided to point out some other things that Trump thinks are “overrated.” Here are some of the best tweets from the hashtag #ThingsTrumpThinksAreOverrated.

#ThingsTrumpThinksAreOverrated:
First Amendment
Morality
The Pope
Patriotism
Beyonce
Facts
Hamilton
Paying taxes
POWs
Obama
Integrity

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) January 9, 2017

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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It’s Monday! If you’re on the East Coast, you’re probably totally frozen! You should stay inside and keep warm with our rants of the day. Meryl Streep’s Golden Globe speech is definitely worth a listen! Welcome to RantCrush Top 5, where we take you through today’s top five controversial stories in the world of law and policy. Who’s ranting and raving right now? Check it out below:

Palestinian Man Drives a Truck Into Crowd of People in Jerusalem

Yesterday, a Palestinian man drove a truck into a crowd of people in Jerusalem, killing four young soldiers; three were women. Seventeen more people were injured. After hitting the crowd, the driver started reversing, but was then shot to death by soldiers at the scene. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the attack that ISIS was behind it and that it was connected to the recent terrorist attacks in Europe, but didn’t provide any proof or further details. There have been other truck attacks carried out by Palestinians in Israel in the past without any links to Islamic State.

Jerusalem attack suspect ID’d as Fadi Qunbar; 9 people, including 5 of Qunbar’s family members, have been arrested. https://t.co/YiUepD1BLx pic.twitter.com/EG0CaDatrk

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) January 8, 2017

The attacker has been identified as 28-year-old Fadi Qunbar. Nine suspects have been arrested for their involvement in the plot, including five of Qunbar’s family members. The atmosphere in Israel has been particularly tense lately following the high-profile conviction of an Israeli soldier who shot a Palestinian man who attacked him. The soldier was convicted of manslaughter because by the time he shot the man, he was already wounded and subdued.

ISIS has not commented on the most recent attack, but extremist organization Hamas praised it on Twitter.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post RantCrush Top 5: January 9, 2017 appeared first on Law Street.

At this year’s Academy Awards broadcast, winners and presenters called our attention to more than one political issue, including racial equality and gay rights. (If you say you weren’t tearing up after Graham Moore’s speech you are LYING.) One of the most memorable moments, and one of the first, was Patricia Arquette’s call to action:

To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation we have fought for everybody’s equal rights. It is our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.

As you can imagine, my reaction–and that of many others–was “YEAH! YOU GO GIRL!” I mean, anything that makes the great Meryl Streep react like this is truly amazing.

Yes. Everyone pretty much agreed that it was a fantastic acceptance speech.

However, after the show in the press room, Arquette expanded her speech, and with it ended up rubbing some people the wrong way.

So the truth is, even though we sort of feel like we have equal rights in America, right under the surface, there are huge issues that are applied that really do affect women. And it’s time for all the women in America and all the men that love women, and all the gay people, and all the people of color that we’ve all fought for to fight for us now.

What quite a few people are pointing out is that “all the gay people” and “all the people of color” still don’t have equal rights either, yet Arquette called them out to fight for women.

People of color and gays, it seems we owe Patricia Arquette for “fighting for us.” Did anyone capture any footage of said fight?

— jamilah (@JamilahLemieux) February 23, 2015

when you wake up in the morning and find out what else patricia arquette said pic.twitter.com/Edu5dUWXR4 — Anne T. Donahue (@annetdonahue) February 23, 2015

stop cheering for #PatriciaArquette, the feminism she advocates isn’t intersectional and that in itself is really rude

— Jocelyn Jones (@j_abriaaa) February 23, 2015

Maddening that even in a speech that screamed “pay attention to women!” some women are overlooked. http://t.co/5xkzzo7P74 — Latoya Peterson (@LatoyaPeterson) February 23, 2015

After the backlash, Arquette came back with responses on Twitter to try and explain her speech.

Wage equality will help ALL women of all races in America. It will also help their children and society.

— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) February 23, 2015

I have long been an advocate for the rights of the #LBGT community. The question is why aren’t you an advocate for equality for ALL women? — Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) February 23, 2015

Clearly what we have here is a case of a well-intentioned woman expressing herself the wrong way. Taken at face value, her speech in the Oscar press room truly does alienate women of the LGBT and racial minority communities. In my opinion, she meant to convey the fact that equal rights for all women will affect these communities as well. Equal pay is just one topic in the broader spectrum of equal rights, but you have to start somewhere.

So, should her original, Meryl-Streep-cheered-for-it speech be ignored because she didn’t explain herself well enough? Definitely not. If anything, her comments should incite more action in women–and men–of every race and orientation.

Morgan McMurray

Morgan McMurray is an editor and gender equality blogger based in Seattle, Washington. A 2013 graduate of Iowa State University, she has a Bachelor of Arts in English, Journalism, and International Studies. She spends her free time writing, reading, teaching dance classes, and binge-watching Netflix. Contact Morgan at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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It’s a night of fanfare, excitement, and glamour. It’s also a night to celebrate the best of the best in the filmmaking industry. But it’s not that simple, either. Without further ado, let’s open up the envelope and check out the top political moments of last night’s Oscars.

Patricia Arquette’s Call for Pay Equality

Patricia Arquette took home a big yet predictable win as Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film “Boyhood.” But in her acceptance speech she did something equally big–she used her platform to speak out for pay equality. Arquette said:

To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation we have fought for everybody’s equal rights. It is our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.

This speech, in addition to being awesome and dead-on, gave rise to quite possibly one of my favorite .gifs of all time–Meryl Streep and J-Lo cheering Arquette on.

If you say something that causes Meryl Streep and J-Lo to react like their team just won the Super Bowl, you know you’re doing something right.

Arquette’s call to action on pay equality came just a few months after the revelation that in some cases, women in blockbusters weren’t being paid as much as their male counterparts. This realization came out of of the much-publicized hack of Sony Entertainment emails. And speaking of Sony…

President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Speaks Out Against Sony Hack

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made a short speech last night, and much of her focus was on the importance of avoiding censorship, a clear reference to the Sony Hack and ensuing concerns about airing “The Interview.” Boone Isaacs exclaimed that as a film industry, everyone has “a responsibility to ensure that different opinions can be shared without fear of personal or professional attack. A responsibility to protect freedom of expression.”

“CitizenFour” Wins the Best Documentary Award

Although this wasn’t an obviously political moment, it definitely said something. “CitizenFour” chronicled the story of Edward Snowden and the leaks that he disclosed in 2013 before fleeing the country. Say what you want about Snowden, whether good or bad, it’s clear that his actions certainly changed the quality of American discourse about privacy and surveillance.

Director Laura Poitras accepted the award, lauding Snowden for his actions. She stated:

The disclosures that Edward Snowden reveals don’t only expose a threat to our privacy but to our democracy itself. When the most important decisions being made, affecting all of us, are made in secret, we lose our ability to check the powers that control. Thank you to Edward Snowden, for his courage, and for the many other whistleblowers. I share this with Glenn Greenwald and other journalists who are exposing truth.

Regardless of whether the “CitizenFour” choice was a political move, Poitras’ speech almost certainly was.

Sean Penn’s Greencard Comment

Of course, not all speeches and moments at the 2015 Oscars were political in a good way. Take Sean Penn’s asshole remark, for example. Penn was announcing the Oscar for Best Picture, which went to “Birdman” by Director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who is originally from Mexico. Sean Penn opened the envelope, looked at it, then said “Who gave this sonofabitch a Greencard” before announcing “Birdman” as the winner.

Now, Iñárritu has said he wasn’t offended by Penn’s joke; the two men have worked together in the past and are friends. That being said, the Oscars got a lot of flak this year for the vast majority of its nominees being very, very white. Penn’s joke made that whiteness even more noticeable, by pointing out that in many ways, Iñárritu is an “outsider” in comparison to the norm of the nominees this year. While Iñárritu may have found it funny, it was not the time or place to make such an off-color joke.

Graham Moore’s Beautiful Speech

Graham Moore wrote the adapted screenplay for “The Imitation Game,” and when he came up to accept his award gave an amazing acceptance speech. If you missed it, I’d highly recommend taking a look:

Mental health issues, particularly depression and suicide, are something that are often talked about in hushed whispers or not at all. For Moore, a now-Oscar winning writer, to get up and talk about his own struggles with mental health sends a powerful message to anyone who may be struggling.

Common and John Legend’s “Glory” Acceptance Speech

Recording artists Common and John Legend won the Oscar for their song “Glory” from the movie “Selma.” Given their moving acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, everyone was expecting the same at the Oscars, and they did not disappoint.

While receiving their Oscar, Legend pointed out two of the most maligned issues in America today: restrictions in voting rights and the high level of black men who are incarcerated.  Legend stated:

We live in the most incarcerated country in the world. There are more black men under correctional control today than there were under slavery in 1850.

The Oscars had many failings this year–the Academy’s approach to race being first and foremost. That being said, there were also a lot of great moments when those who work in the industry took matters into their own hands during acceptance speeches. Pay equality, mental health awareness, freedom of speech, and institutionalized racism are all pressing issues in this nation. The Oscar speeches won’t solve any of them, but I applaud all those who took a stand for being very public voices for truly noble reasons.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Top Political Moments at the 2015 Oscars appeared first on Law Street.

Awards shows usually operate as a superficial yet entertaining public relations platform. Events range from the fashionably clad stars’ “who are you wearing” banter on the red carpet, to the 30-second movie clips dispersed throughout the show highlighting what movies you “should be watching.” Last night’s 72^nd Annual Golden Globes Awards, however, shocked us by getting pretty political.

With all that’s been happening in the news recently involving attacks on media, from the Charlie Hebdo shooting to the Sony Pictures hack, Hollywood had a lot to say in defense of the First Amendment. The tone of the show was set in motion by a 10-minute opening monologue from the always-hilarious comedy duo Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who hosted the Globes for their third consecutive and final year. Fey started off:

Tonight we celebrate all the great television shows that we know and love, as well as all the movies that North Korea was ok with.

The Golden Globes, judged by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), didn’t just use the monologue to mock North Korea. Actress and comedian Margaret Cho, dressed as a pale-faced North Korean general and new HFPA member, posed for an awkward selfie with Meryl Streep and joined Fey and Poehler on stage.

Cho, a Korean-American, is no stranger to controversial roles. She dressed as former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il on NBC’s “30 Rock,” for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. I guess critics didn’t find the same pale-faced broken-English impersonation as funny this time, taking to Twitter to call it racist. A debate quickly ensued, with some finding it highly offensive, while others defended it as comedic satire. Was her acting offensive? It was definitely stereotypical and dragged on for far too long, but personally I didn’t find it any more offensive than those parodies shown in “The Interview,” which has reportedly been downloaded or rented more than 4.3 million times online since its Christmas debut.

why is Margaret Cho doing this weird…uncomfortable…racist caricature thing; can this not be a thing

— Lindsay Crockett (@lindsaymcroc) January 12, 2015

Chill on Cho, twitterverse. Her NK satire was brilliant. Not racist. Jennifer Lopez tried to steal @goldenglobes But @margaretcho did.

— Emil Guillermo (@emilamok) January 12, 2015

Nothing was off limits for Fey and Poehler, including rape jokes when they transitioned into Pudding Pop-like impersonations of accused sitcom star Bill Cosby. “I put the pills in the people,” impersonated Fey, “The people did not want the pills in them!”

The Bill Cosby jokes didn’t stop there. When talking about new movie musical “Into the Woods” Poehler joked:

Cinderella ran away from her prince, Rapunzel was thrown from a tower . . . and Sleeping Beauty just thought she was getting coffee with Bill Cosby.

Too soon? After I’d picked my chin up off the floor, I registered just how ballsy the night was getting in terms of comedy risks.

On a more serious note, HFPA President Theo Kingman gave an inspiring mid-show speech reminding the crowd of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris. His words were met with a standing ovation from the entire crowd. His speech included:

As international journalists we also understand the importance of freedom of expression, as not only an integral part of the American fabric, but a beacon that is reflected across the globe. Together, we will stand united against anyone who would repress free speech, anywhere from North Korea to Paris.

Rapper Common also shared some uplifting words in his acceptance speech for best original song in a motion picture for his and John Legend’s work in the civil rights drama “Selma.” His words were met with tears from the film’s producer Oprah. Common stated:

As I got to know the people of the civil rights movement, I realized, I am the hopeful black woman who was denied her right to vote. I am the caring white supporter killed on the front lines of freedom. I am the unarmed black kid who maybe needed a hand but instead was given a bullet. I am the two fallen police officers murdered in the line of duty.

Overall, the playful parodies of some current hot button issues upstaged big winners like “Boyhood” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” livening up the relatively boring telecast. The comedy teetered the line of what is offensive, without truly crossing it, and showed that Hollywood still has a sense of humor after an embarrassing and arduous few months.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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