If you can believe it, former U.S. president Donald Trump, whose legal troubles are rapidly escalating, didn’t like the 2021 Oscars. He made this exceedingly clear when he shared his unwelcome thoughts on the 93rd Academy Awards in the saddest way possible: in an official statement from his office, two days after the fact. Instead of live-tweeting the event with the rest of us, Trump had to wait until Tuesday to deliver his thoughts via press release, as he’s been suspended indefinitely from Twitter for, among other things, using it to incite the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. capital.
In the press release, Trump offers his advice for fixing the Oscars, which, like other award shows during the pandemic, received their lowest ratings ever on Sunday. For someone who amassed his wealth by throwing his last name on other people’s buildings, it’s ultimately unsurprisingly that Trump is most fixated on the Oscar’s branding. “Go back 15 years, look at the formula they then used, change the name back to THE ACADEMY AWARDS,” reads Trump’s statement, “don’t be so politically correct and boring, and do it right.” Coincidentally, the 2006 Oscar’s hosted by vehement Trump-hater Jon Stewart was the ceremony that saw Crash beat Brokeback Mountain for best picture, a win that has aged almost as poorly as the former Apprentice host has in the past 15 years.
Trump’s second piece of unsolicited advice: bring back the host format. “ALSO, BRING BACK A GREAT HOST,” the ex-president wrote in all caps, screaming into the void. While he would undoubtedly relish the opportunity, Trump is unlikely to book the Oscar’s hosting gig he wants reinstated as he has been banned for life from SAG-AFTRA. Sucks for him, as he could probably use the money to help out with one of his 29 impending lawsuits.
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