As usual, I did not watch the Academy Awards ceremony last night. I was glad to read today that Frances McDormand won the Best Actress award for her performance in Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri along with Sam Rockwell for Best Supporting Actor. I had praised that film and McDormand’s performance before in my review of the film. The host Jimmy Kimmel gave an excellent opening monologue that was both funny and pointed and gave a shout out to the students at Parkland and their March for Our Lives rallies on March 24, although another unknown group has claimed the Mall in Washington DC for that day to film a ‘talent show’..

Here it is.

However, there were some not-so-nice moments as Kevin Fallon writes, where accused abusers carried away some awards.

The Academy pats itself on the back for its support of the Time’s Up initiative so often poor Oscar’s probably got a bruise on his shoulder blades. But when it came to the people who took home trophies, time’s not really up so much as the Academy seems to have conveniently lost track of it.

How else to explain wins completely at odds with the movement? Kobe Bryant, who was accused of rape in 2004, won an Oscar for Best Animated Short; then Gary Oldman, who was accused of assaulting his wife 2001, took home Best Actor. And if McDormand’s speech didn’t do enough to expose the egregious gender gap at the Oscars, the fact that this year produced the fewest female winners in six years might.

There was also the lunacy in E!’s decision not to pull Ryan Seacrest from his position as red carpet host as he faces accusations of sexual misconduct, resulting in nearly every A-lister at the ceremony snubbing the network completely. The ones who did stop by, of course, were not asked by Seacrest about the #MeToo movement that has defined the year in the industry, essentially silencing the conversation on the most watched pre-show telecast in the country.

In an appalling piece of poor judgment, the local newspaper the Plain Dealer chose to put Oldman’s photograph on the front page to showcase its Oscar coverage, even as it mentioned that this year’s award ceremony focused on the issue of sexual harassment and abuse. The article also mentioned Bryant’s award and did not mention the allegations against both men.

One last plus: the Fox and Friends crowd groused about the ceremony.