When Matthew McConaughey uttered the G-word as he accepted his Best Actor statuette at Sunday night’s 86th annual Academy Awards, several small gasps were overheard and then only an uncomfortable silence. “First off,” he said, “I want to thank God. ‘Cause that’s who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand. He has shown me that it’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates.” If you’re not clear on what a big deal this was, know this: God is not a star in Hollywood. Indeed, according to an Associated Press count, God has only been thanked in 14 of the 100 Academy Awards acceptance speeches given over the last 30 years. Winners thanked the Academy more than that in 2013 alone. And, according to a Slate analysis of Oscar speeches since 2002, Meryl Streep has been thanked more times than God during acceptance speeches over the last decade. So, was the utterance an aberration or a game changer? Academy Award Twitterati hoped it was the former, with such intelligentsia like the following spewing forth: “Wait, this guy’s one of those weirdo Christians?” (Kyle Smith); “Shhhh McConaughey stop talking about god you’re ruining it.” (Haley Patail); and “Matthew McConaughey thanking God…….I hate him so much.” (Jason Cunnington).
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 14:45:30 +0000
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