• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, January 9, 2017

On Monday morning, the headlines on the Golden Globes stories were either about the night’s big winner -- the movie musical “La La Land” -- or the remarks by Meryl Streep and Hugh Laurie (and possibly others) whining about Donald Trump. Who else won awards? You have to dig deep into these stories to find that out.

A TV columnist (or any columnist) can be forgiven for combining the two prevailing storylines in a morning-after blog post that applies the “La La Land” movie title to a characterization of the divide between Hollywood and the rest of America -- approximately half of whose residents voted for Trump.

Possible headlines might be: “Message From La La Land: Half of the People Who Buy Tickets to Our Movies Are Idiots.” Or “Clueless Stars in La La Land Complain About Trump, Alienate Half of America.” Or “La La Land Luminaries Tell Nation: We’re Smarter Than 50% of You.”

It should go without saying that such behavior is bad for business. It doesn’t seem to occur to the residents of La La Land that they’re in a business that depends on Americans liking them.

Certainly, half the country can be relied upon to cheer when Meryl Streep makes a speech in which she warns that the Trump administration’s policies on immigration might mean the deportation of some of Hollywood’s top stars who are foreign-born. 

“If we kick ’em all out we’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed-martial arts. Which are not the arts!” she proclaimed during Sunday night’s Golden Globes telecast on NBC.

Earth to Meryl: Many Americans enjoy football and mixed-martial arts. They also enjoy many movies and TV shows that come out of the industry you represent. Who died and made you America’s Arts Arbiter in Chief?

It’s just the kind of nonsense that the people who are still crying over Trump’s victory seem to love. They’re posting the text of Streep’s speech and the video of her delivering it all over social media today.

“This is what it’s like to view the world through Hollyweird glasses,” wrote New York Post movie critic Kyle Smith in a column published on Monday, “You actually worry that President Trump is going to deport Amy Adams [born in Italy] and Natalie Portman [born in Israel].”

Maybe Trump will try to deport the very people who put on the Golden Globe Awards every January -- the group known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. At the very least, maybe the Trump administration can succeed where numerous journalists have failed and identify who the 90-some members of this group actually are.

The political commentary emanating from Hollywood has grown tiresome. It also afflicted last year’s Oscars, in which a lack of African-American nominees became the “cause” of the day. Back then, the TV Blog applied the title of one of the Oscar-nominated movies, “Joy,” to a screed about the “joyless” Oscars.

Sunday night’s Golden Globes had that same world-weary tone, which to us ordinary folk watching at home doesn’t square with all the fabulousness on display in the Golden Globes banquet room and the red carpet outside.

It’s true that many people applaud when celebrities practice activism. When Meryl Streep makes a speech on social subjects outside of her profession, it’s seen as a way for this prominent personality to use her fame -- and presumably the respect she enjoys among many -- to do “good” on behalf of others.

At the same time, however, many people can’t stand it when celebrities get involved in this way -- particularly when they’re actors. Since these movie stars usually have no past history of scholarship or work experience in any of the areas they make speeches about, it’s reasonable to wonder whether they are simply playing the role of activist because they think it plays well to their constituency.

The Golden Globes serve as the unofficial kickoff for the Hollywood awards season that concludes with the Academy Awards (this year’s are on Feb. 26). The movie industry is really the only industry you can think of that gives itself so many awards that it requires a whole “season” to do it in.

Look for it to be a long, tired season of Trump-bashing too.