Nepotism and White Privilege in Hollywood: The Contrast Between Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis

We are not the biggest fans of the entertainment world’s awards shows, as we feel a lot self stroking goes into this crap these days. Take the Grammy Awards: Beyoncé has 32 Grammy wins now, while acts like ABBA, Queen, Patti Smith, Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys, and Bob Marley have won absolutely zero Grammy Awards combined. How does that even happen?

Anyway, it’s just a popularity contest most of the time, but Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony really brought to life for us the real fact of nepotism in Hollywood and other entertainment industries (including sports, which we will cover here at a later date). This was never more clear in the presenting of the Best Supporting Actor/Actress awards.

First Ke Huy Quan: His speech notes how he spent a year in a refugee camp as an immigrant from Vietnam post-war. We can only imagine the challenges he has faced in his life, both before his youthful turns in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies—and after. This is the stuff the American Dream was made of, in truth.

Then Jamie Lee Curtis: Her remarks reference how neither of her parents ever won an Oscar. Wait … who were her parents? Tony Curtis (The Defiant Ones, Spartacus, Some Like It Hot, etc.) and Janet Leigh (Psycho, etc.). She was handed an easy pathway to fame and fortune in the industry, and it still took her 45 years to win an Academy Award.

It’s shocking to us people aren’t more clued in here to the problems this presents. While children of the rich and famous have thrived in the United States for generations, it’s always much harder for people of “simple” birth to succeed in America. Oh, it happens all the time, for sure, and it’s the American Dream … usually only afforded to white people.

No one seems to point out these issues in certain industries, however. Maybe the time has come for Hollywood to stop gifting opportunities and roles to the undeserving children of famous actors. We’re not talking about Drew Barrymore, either: she always had ability. But we are looking at people like Rooney Mara and Dakota Johnson, for example. They suck.

Every year it seems now the Oscars set some records for diversity, and it’s a good thing. The right wingnuts may not like it, but America is a melting pot, always has been, and always will be. The entertainment industry should reflect that a little more honestly—just as politics, where someone like Sarah Huckabee Sanders only succeeds because of nepotism.