The Academy Awards is doubling down on its embrace of woke social justice activism and DEI. The latest change: the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award — a staple of the Oscars since the 1950s — will now focus, at least in part, on equity.
This week, the Academy reportedly slipped into an announcement about next year’s Oscars that the Hersholt award will henceforth recognize those who are “promoting human welfare and contributing to rectifying inequities.” That represents a significant shift for the award’s previous mission, which was to honor those whose “humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.
In past years, the Hersholt has gone to celebrities and industry executives who have devoted large portions of their careers to charitable work. Past recipients include Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Jerry Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, and Michael J. Fox. Woody Harrelson presents honoree Canadian-American actor Michael J. Fox with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award on November 19, 2022.
For decades, the award was presented during the main Oscars telecast. But in more recent years, it has been relegated to the non-televised Governors Awards, which usually takes place in November.The ABC telecast managed to draw just 19.5 million viewers — the fourth lowest ratings in Oscars history. At the height of its popularity in the late ’90s, the Oscars drew as many as 57 million viewers.Report: Biden Tells Netanyahu U.S.