It’s hardly news that the Oscars don’t really celebrate what Kanye West would call “artistry” so much as raw dollars, and that the whole event is a depressing exercise in financial auditing.
Still, when this year’s show began with host Neil Patrick Harris calling out Oprah Winfrey for being “rich,” I was taken aback. Even for an event steeped in gaucherie, this seemed in bad taste.
Of all the stinking rich luminaries in that theater, why single out Oprah? She’s wealthy, but surely not any more so than a hundred other people in that audience. What was different about her? Except that a quick Google search informed me that, in fact (according to Forbes), Oprah has a net worth of 3 billion dollars, (billion with a B) -- a figure so staggeringly high it may actually qualify as noteworthy.
As a point of comparison, Neil Patrick Harris himself is worth a mere 35 million dollars -- which seems fair enough, except that Meryl Streep’s net worth is a paltry 45 million. Of course, net worth isn’t the same as salary; but the ten million separating the sitcom star and the 19-time Oscar nominee generally regarded as the finest actor of her generation is hardly worth getting out of bed for.
Perhaps this is why Ms. Streep became so energized when Patricia Arquette (herself worth 24 million) said, “It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.” Just one more reason I’ll tell anyone who will listen that Toto sang about the wrong Arquette.
But the real shocking thing I learned is that Googling someone’s net worth is so common that one gets the information in a little side box, same as the definition of a word or movie times at a particular theater. Knowing someone’s wealth is as common as knowing their birthday or favorite way to listen to music.
For Oprah it’s January 29th and Golden Beats by Dr. Dre, retail 700 bucks.
Hooray for Hollywood.
I'm Dan Libman, and that's my perspective.
