Seth and the Oscars

By: American Decency Staff

In the decency business, Seth McFarlane is the gift that keeps on giving. Until McFarlane retires from the "entertainment" industry, we can be pretty sure we will have plenty of obscene material to write about.

Unfortunately, McFarlane was the host for the 2013 Oscars, and predictably, McFarlane brought his university frat boy "humor" along to the Academy Awards ceremony.

Opening the show with a boisterous ode to the actresses showing their breasts on film, Seth inspired even Hollywood insiders to call McFarlane's stint behind the microphone " occasionally crude and mildly offensive."

In fact, McFarlane's jokes were designed, as most of his work is, to offend as many people and people groups as possible. Seth made cracks about Jewish people, black people, women, Hispanics, and even went out of his way to disrespect President Lincoln.

On top of all of this, Seth McFarlane shamelessly wrapped the awards show around himself, causing USA Today to lead their review with this, "Oscars fans have seen a lot over the years, but this may be the first time they've ever seen a host use the awards to audition for his own variety show."

Here are some more of the Media's reviews of the Family Guy producer's performance:

Marlow Stern – The Daily Beast
Finally … an Oscars the guys can enjoy!

That’s how ABC billed the 85th annual Academy Awards ceremony, which aired on the network at 8:30 p.m. ET Sunday night.

Perhaps they meant 12-year-old boys?

The event, honoring the best in cinema for 2012, was a disaster, with host Seth MacFarlane—the creator of a few TV series, including Family Guy, and the blockbuster comedy film Ted—doing an incredibly awkward Rat Pack-meets-Crank Yankers routine, replete with silly jokes touching on rape, race, sexism, Nazis, and the Lincoln assassination…

Chris Lee – The LA Times
In his widely panned bow as Oscars host, “Family Guy” and “American Dad!” creator Seth MacFarlane lived up to his reputation for transgressive frat-boy humor by biting the proverbial hand that feeds. He attempted to bag on just about every A-list actor and Hollywood heavyweight within his sightline at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday night in a performance that, nonetheless, many observers found boring while also failing to live up to the host’s usual standard of crassness.

Robert Blanco – USA Today
The host mixes a song about breasts with a vaudeville routine. And this is the Oscars?

Amy Davidson – The New Yorker
Watching the Oscars last night meant sitting through a series of crudely sexist antics led by a scrubby, self-satisfied Seth MacFarlane. That would be tedious enough. But the evening’s misogyny involved a specific hostility to women in the workplace…

As you can see, these are not conservative sources. When the Daily Beast calls something crude, you know it's crude. And when the LA Times says that a song listing the movies where A-list actresses show their breasts doesn't "live up to the host's usual standard of crassness," you know the guy is dirt-bag.

Is Hollywood finally starting to figure this out? I wouldn't get my hopes up, but at least it shows that even Hollywood has a line it doesn't like to cross. You just have to be Seth McFarlane to find it.

==================================================================

To support our efforts please click here or mail your gift to American Decency Association (ADA), PO Box 202, Fremont, MI 49412.

American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

---