Despite solid ratings for Sunday's 85th annual Academy Awards, host Seth MacFarlane is catching a lot of flak for his crude jokes about women, Jews, Abraham Lincoln and most notably, actress' boobs.
In a musical number titled "We Saw Your Boobs," MacFarlane pointed out actresses who have bared all on-screen — often during emotionally-charged or rape scenes.
Women both in the audience and watching at home were offended by the song, calling it crass and inappropriate.
We spoke with Elizabeth Cantillon, film producer and executive vice president of production at Sony who was in the audience at the Dolby Theater Sunday night, who tells us she and her colleagues were outraged:
I was with a number of women in the movie business who were shocked that that's what the Academy Awards chose to emphasize when really what we should be doing is promoting growth to our business and what's great about our business.
You're talking about the great American actresses, you're talking about Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep. People who have had long and successful careers, have won awards, and objectifying them and it's not right — even if you're trying to be humorous it's identifying a select group and picking on them for ridicule. Which I would think, with the history of the Academy and people who are contributors in Hollywood, that wouldn't be okay.
Even if it had been hilariously funny, I don't know that that should be the source of comedy on a show that is meant to promote our business around the world. These women are international stars, that's their business, they're important businesswomen as well as artists and that's key to success in our business and appreciating them.
Tabloids can do what they do, that's the cross of the business, but not the Oscars. I would be surprised if there was any woman in the movie business who was at the Oscars or watched the Oscars who wasn't offended by that.
As for whether or not any of Cantillon's colleagues have spoken to the Academy about the offensive song and dance number, she says she's not sure, "but the head of the Academy is a woman, so that was also surprising."
Here are some other reactions to the song:
- “Among the women I’ve talked to today I would say I haven’t heard from any who thought it was in good taste,” Cathy Schulman, a producer who won a best picture Oscar in the past for “Crash” and is currently the president of the industry group Women in Film, tells The NY Times.
- "MacFarlane's opening musical number, "We Saw Your Boobs," might as well have been a siren blaring, "This isn't for you" ... Actual gender equality is a ways away, but I'd settle for one four-hour ceremony where women aren't being actively degraded." — Vulture's Margaret Lyons in "Why Seth MacFarlane’s Misogyny Matters."
- “It’s one thing to be topless and to have that in the context of the film, for a purpose in a particular scene for a particular reason. It’s another to take it out of context and just focus on women’s breasts.” — Feminist lawyer Gloria Allred told The Daily Beast.
- “I loved the boob song, I thought [Seth MacFarlane] was great!” — Best Actress winner Jennifer Lawrence.
And at least two other actresses weren't offended by the song, either.
"Three of the actresses he sang about were evidently in cahoots with MacFarlane at some level, as they agreed to pre-record footage of their "reactions" to their shout-outs, which was then spliced in during the show, according to The Cut's Charlotte Cowles.
Watch reactions to MacFarlane's lyrics below:
"Meryl Streep we saw your boobs in 'Silkwood,' Naomi Watts we in 'Mulholland Drive.'"
"Kristen Stewart we saw your boobs in 'On The Road,' and in 'Monster' we saw Charlize Theron's."
"Halle Berry we saw them in 'Monster's Ball,' Nicole Kidman in 'Eyes Wide Shut,' Marisa Tomei in 'The Wrestle' but we haven't seen Jennifer Lawrence's boobs at all."
Now watch the musical number in its entirety and judge for yourself:
If you were offended my MacFarlane, New York software developer Kevin Gisi came up with the song "We Saw Your Junk" in response:
SEE ALSO: 15 photos that defined Oscar night >
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