seth macfarlane and the oscars: well, what did you expect?
Seth MacFarlane is coming under fire for his hosting at the Oscars, in particular in regard to his “Boobs” song in which he points out various celebrities and what movies their boobs were shown in.
It surprises me so many people are getting so upset or offended about it. Seth isn’t known for his subtle humour. If anyone has seen Family Guy or Ted they’d know to expect something horrendous. When I found out he was hosting I turned to my friend and said, ‘Oh that can’t be good. He’s going to be SO inappropriate’.
So why people are now turning around and saying how offensive he was doesn’t make any sense to me.
Firstly, if you hire a crude comedian to host an awards show, expect to hear some crude humour! I can’t believe anyone thought he’d tone it down. Why would you, when you’re on an international platform to perform, suddenly change your style of humour? To me that’s like asking Metallica to sing gospel music because some people might find heavy metal too confronting and loud. Fans of Seth wouldn’t expect anything less than for him to be rude.
Secondly, when did humour become such a frowned upon thing? People need to relax and just take it for what it is – a joke and a laugh. Yes, some of it was childish, yes boobs are probably only funny when you’re 10, but I got a giggle out of it because it was just silly. I think everyone needs to chill out about it all. If you didn’t like it, you’re probably not a Seth MacFarlane fan in which case you never were going to like it regardless of what he said or did.
Personally, I thought it was fine. I think some people just like to complain no matter who hosts these things. The Pope could do it and someone would have something to say!
All in all I say well done to Seth, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they ask him to do it again because the fact is he got good ratings and people talking!
By Holly Lazzari
What are your thoughts, Lipsters? For another perspective, check out Broede’s piece.
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First off, I thought who’s this guy? It’s not common of The Toscars to employ a floorman. Thirdly, his sing-song was kind of quirky. Lastly, I noticed I wasn’t laughing AT all. If you’re going to shed sh1t all over A-listers and let’s face it, women at large, at least let Ricky Gervais do it. Disappointed I was like a Mr Whippy horse turd.
The Oscars, as most awards shows, are boring regardless of who hosts.
Anne and James got lambasted for hosting, Ricky Gervais was called all sorts of things for his rubbish, so really, when you hire the guy who does such trash on his own shows, what DO YOU EXPECT?
I saw the whole thing and didn’t think anything of his hosting. I wasn’t offended, took it for what it was, bullshit comedy making an awards show run too long, and was so glad when it was over because you could so tell how dead the show was by the end of the night.
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Thanks Holly.
Your point about “what did people expect” is a really important one, and spot on. Whether or not people think MacFarlane’s brand of humour was appropriate for the Oscars (or at all, for that matter), it seems a bit disingenuous and unfair to suddenly explode with outrage after the event, when he’d been chosen to host long beforehand.
I suppose many people simply weren’t familiar with the man or his other work – but the context of his comedy on shows like Family Guy (as, arguably, absurdist and ironic) seems at least worthy of mention or acknowledgement when attacking his jokes on stage. My view is that such absurdist comedy probably works better as satire (albeit rather low brow) when in cartoon form.
The other point, of course, is that for anyone offended by the jokes on Oscar night, their proper target should be the show’s producers who, as you point out, hired MacFarlane on the expectation that he would be crude. But attacking relatively nameless producers doesn’t have the same ring to it, I suppose.