Here in Washington, the affiliate that carried the Oscars was ABC channel WJLA. Immediately after the show, Anchor Leon Harris spoke with reporter Kyle Osborn about the only "officially sanctioned Oscar party" held in Washington, where 400 political fat cats raised money for charity as they cheered their favorite Hollywood liberals.
Said Kyle Osborn, who attended the event:
"The crowd cheered on Jon Stewart, his monologue went over well. George Clooney, they loved him, and especially loved his, I'd say, politically minded acceptance speech."
George Clooney defended Hollywood's status of being out of touch with the rest of America, saying Hollywood has always led the way on such issues as civil rights while the rest of America dragged its feet.
But Osborn reported on what happened when everybody's favorite movie didn't win for best picture.
"You could feel the air leave the room as people collectively gasped to hear that 'Crash' and not 'Brokeback Mountain' won best picture for the Oscars this year."
Anchor Leon Harris said the same thing happened in the newsroom.
"Yeah, the same thing happened here in the studio, I have to say. A lot of us were gasping as well."
The same scenario likely happened in newsrooms across the country, and perhaps "Crash" will be blacklisted as the film that stood in the way of social progress.
