Vinay Menon: The Oscars snub Volodymyr Zelenskyy again and it’s shameful

Even before Sunday’s Oscars, the winner of Most Shameful Snub is clear.

For the second year in a row, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has denied Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request to address the glitterati.

Variety broke the story Thursday: “For the past year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been greeted with open arms by awards shows, film festivals and even the New York Stock Exchange. But when it comes to landing airtime on the most coveted telecast of all — the Oscars — the Ukrainian leader is being met with a cold shoulder.”

I don’t get it. Hollywood is usually attracted to worthy causes like moths to floodlights. But the academy is squeamish about platforming Zelenskyy as he tries to keep his country from getting swallowed alive by this barbaric Russian invasion.

It’s not as if the Oscars is a lean telecast in which every second of well-heeled backslapping is calibrated with NASA precision. This thing has more marbled fat than a discount rib-eye. If you are planning to watch Sunday, keep a stash of caffeine pills under the couch cushion because host Jimmy Kimmel will be cracking wise into the wee hours until it’s almost time to shower and get ready for work on Monday.

I was disturbed last year after the academy rebuffed Zelenskyy. According to Variety, 2022 producer Will Packer “expressed concerns that Hollywood was only showering Ukraine with attention because those affected by the conflict are white. By contrast, Hollywood has ignored wars around the globe that impact people of colour …”

I suppose we could have a nuanced debate about this. Me, I find it too repugnant to address with balance. When I check in with what’s happening in Ukraine, as I have every single night for 12 months, I don’t see skin colour. I see misery. I see war crimes. I see civilian infrastructure targeted with cruel malice, a violation of international law. I see bombed out schools and hospitals. I see orphaned children and grandparents scrounging for food. I see a sovereign democracy valiantly trying to survive an unprovoked attack by a nuclear superpower. I see mass graves and rape and plunder and wretched destruction and a rollback of postwar order.

I see haunting suffering in faces that only have the pigment of anguish.

Zelenskyy, a former actor and comedian, grasps the power of pop culture, especially in its power to hypnotize the West. He knows a satellite cameo at the Oscars on Sunday could help him keep the plight of Ukraine in our hearts and minds.

This is more important than ever now that public support is softening and useful idiots on both sides of the political divide are parroting Kremlin talking points or making the immoral case it’s time to look away and focus on our own problems.

If Canada is ever invaded, I pray Marjorie Taylor Greene never opines.

In the propaganda wars, it doesn’t help that deep fakes or doctored videos of Zelenskyy keep going viral. One recent clip, seized upon by the right, purported to show Zelenskyy saying the U.S. must send “sons and daughters” to help fight.

The implication was that Zelenskyy was calling for NATO soldiers to enter Ukraine’s theatre of war. Candace Owens, the conservative grifter with the eternal blank gaze of a toddler stymied by the maze on a Denny’s placement, shared the clip and said Zelenskyy was the “one person” she’d most want to punch in the face. Classy.

Alas, since due diligence is to Ms. Owens as space travel is to H&R Block, the poor thing ended up doing what she always does: making an utter fool of herself. The clip she shared was edited. What Zelenskyy actually said was that if Ukraine fell and Russia expanded its imperial conquests to a bordering NATO nation, then U.S. soldiers would be thrust into battle by the automatic triggering of Article 5.

He wasn’t begging Candace to strap on a flak jacket and fight for Kyiv.

God knows she wouldn’t defend a Pottery Barn without a $500,000 cash advance.

Disinformation has become a secondary threat to Ukraine. And Zelenskyy, a keen student of the art of persuasion, has always known he can’t win this illegal war if he can’t keep getting the word out. The best way to do this is to address large global audiences, you know, like Sunday’s Academy Awards.

Zelenskyy is not auditioning for a role in Spielberg’s next film.

He’s just trying to make sure we remember he and his people are staring down evil.

And he should be allowed to say a few words whenever he can, wherever he wants. If Zelenskyy wanted to provide a FaceTime update on the shifting sands in Bakhmut at my daughters’ next birthday party, I’d happily oblige. Inside the arts community, this is a no-brainer. This is why Ukraine’s president has spoken at everything from the Grammys to last month’s film festival in Berlin.

So why can’t the Oscars get with the program beyond the red carpet?

Why are the Oscars determined to be on the wrong side of history?

When the Academy Awards air on Sunday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be in an undisclosed bunker with no giddy acceptance speeches or $126,000 swag bags. He will be too busy doing what he’s done for the past year: trying to save his country.

Shame on the academy for playing him offstage before he could say a word.

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