Goldie Hawn Says Oscars Are No Longer ‘Elegant’, Too ‘Politicized’

Goldie Hawn says the Oscars took politics too far.

The “Overboard” actress and Oscar winner reflected on what she thinks is a lack of glitz at the modern Oscars ahead of the 95th annual awards event on Sunday, March 12.

“It used to be chic,” Hawn said Species cover story. “I’m not old-fashioned, but sometimes the jokes are off. And I lack reverence. Things have become politicized. I want to see people in awe. I want to see people believing again. I want to see people laugh more and not just at the expense of others.”

Hawn, who won Best Supporting Actress at the 1970 Academy Awards, shared that she “regrets” not attending the ceremony. “It’s something I look back on now and think, ‘It would have been great if I could have done that,'” the “Cactus Flower” actress said, noting that Raquel Welch accepted the award on her behalf from host Fred. Astaire. It wasn’t until more than 50 years later, in early 2023, that Hawn watched a televised recording of the ceremony with 2023 Academy Awards host Jimmy Kimmel at a mutual friend’s party.

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But he did watch the 2022 ceremony: Hawn engaged in the now-infamous Oscar slap and best actor attack on stage host Chris Rock over a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle.

“It speaks to our current culture,” Hawn said. “I mean, you could look at him and say, ‘What the hell just happened?’ Someone lost control. They have lost their self-control. Their bigger brains didn’t think and they did something that was horrible and showed no remorse. For me, this is often a microcosm of our world.”

He added: “Chris was brilliant – he was completely in touch with his emotions and in control of his emotions, he was able to stand his ground with dignity. This is an example of how we want our world to be. But unfortunately that’s not the case now.”

This, according to Hawn, is partly due to the fact that there are no real movie stars anymore.

“Where are they?” he said. “The old-fashioned movie star excites. We used to be able to say, “I’m going to rest because I think I’m overexposed.” A lot of these people coming up are making more money than anyone who’s ever made as an actor, but they’re not known.”

Hawn reflected that while romantic comedies are labeled “too pedestrian and uninteresting” in modern cinema (“how sad”), the negative-fueled cancellation culture is increasingly thwarting comedy.

“I think it’s important to be vigilant about people’s behavior and really understand when they’re out of line and be able to deal with it. But I’m concerned about these areas: suddenly you don’t have a job. Suddenly you can’t date a woman inside the store or you’ll get fired. They give up books – classic books that no one can read. “I don’t like that,” Hawn said. “There is mistrust everywhere. So there is not only cancel culture, but also culture wars. Schools are being politicized. But for the greater good of our children? No one really watches this. There is an interruption now. Confusion is good. But imbalance is not.”

He continued: “I hope I can return to some level of sensitivity and decency. So “tell the culture”. The word itself scares me more than anything. Rigid, concretized thinking, which is not good. It has a double edge. And who has the right to cancel? The sensitivity is so high that comedians are afraid to tell certain jokes the way they used to. And it’s a bit difficult for comedians; there are things that cannot be said, and so on and so forth. I mean, he’s fine. There are certain areas I agree with. But the level of sensitivity is unforgivable. That’s not a good feeling when you’re in creative mode.”

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