Of course the Oscars discourse overwhelmingly focused on
Will Smith slapping Chris Rock.
It's the slap heard round the world, of course.
But there's another Oscars related story that deserves a lot more attention and
it has to do with a labor dispute at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.
Now this is the hotel where Jay-Z and
Beyonce decided to host the Oscars after party.
What they clearly either didn't know or didn't care to know about is the fact
that there is currently a boycott taking place as a result of workers saying that
they've been abused at this place of work, at the Chateau Marmont, okay?
And so the UNITE HERE Local 11 Hospitality Union has been boycotting the hotel
since 2021, because of how poorly the employees have been treated.
So just to fill you in on all of that and
then I'll give you the update on this Oscars after party.
In 2020, Chateau Marmont owner laid off nearly all of his employees at
the onset of the pandemic without providing severance packages or
extended health insurance.
Months later, more than 30 staffers told The Hollywood Reporter about
long simmering workplace issues including allegations of systemic racial
discrimination and sexual misconduct.
Those are pretty serious allegations and if there's a boycott taking place,
maybe reconsider hosting your after party event at this place.
But nonetheless, Jay-Z and Beyonce went forward with it.
Now, both sexual harassment and
racism apparently were running rampant at this hotel.
Five employees, one man and four women, told The Hollywood Reporter
that they were inappropriately touched by the owner, Balaz.
Either at work or during company events, typically on their buttocks or
while he was inebriated.
What's weird is that it didn't feel personal, says one Chateau staffer.
He was just in a promiscuous mood.
He does it in a way that makes you feel unseen by him.
And there were other allegations as well.
For instance,
there was a restaurant staffer in a supervising role who allegedly directed
ethnic slurs at a group of Latino kitchen workers multiple times a week for years.
They didn't feel they could report the situation without potential blowback.
And so on March 21st, Variety actually revealed that Jay-Z and Beyonce,
we're gonna host this Oscars after party event, there was backlash to that.
So I don't believe for
a second that they were unaware that there is a boycott taking place.
I just don't think they really cared about it.
The union and
former Chateau Marmont employees actually organized press conferences.
They sent letters to city officials in the following days to try to put an end to
the party.
But to no avail, obviously the party still happened.
And so with no other options, they decided,
all right then we're gonna go ahead and protest right outside
of the hotel as all these celebrities are arriving for the event.
And so, here are the celebrities who decided to show up,
didn't really seem to care too much about the boycott.
It makes me really sad cuz there are a lot of people on this list that I like.
Janelle Monet, Emily Ratajkowski,
who is usually right on a lot of political policy issues.
Not surprised about Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and all of that.
In fact, Kim Kardashian's dealing with some blowback after she
made some ridiculous comments about women.
She was asked to give women advice and
this is the advice she decided to give them.
>> I have the best advice for women in business, get your what's up and work.
It seems like nobody wants to work these days.
>> That's so true.
>> You have to surround yourself with people that wanna work.
Have a good work environment where everyone loves what they do because you
have one life.
No toxic work environments and show up and do the work.
>> You have to work.
And obviously what she's saying there is, work for me, right?
She's apparently having some sort of issue with her own employees and decided to get
super salty about it in that ridiculous interview in that statement.
But last week she did address the blowback that she got for issuing that statement.
She says, it wasn't a blanket statement toward women or
to feel like I don't respect the work or think that they don't work hard.
I know that they do.
It was taken out of context.
It wasn't.
But I'm really sorry if it was received that way.
So there's her non apology, really.
And by the way, after she issued that statement,
a bunch of her former employees came out and had something to share with everyone.
Kim Kardashian West is facing claims from seven members of her
domestic staff that say that they were not paid enough or
given breaks while employed at her California home.
The plaintiff's claim, Kardashian West failed to pay overtime,
cover expenses, and provide legally mandated breaks according
to a civil action filed in Los Angeles county superior court.
So look, those are accusations, we'll see how that lawsuit plays out.
But given the way that she issued that statement, I wouldn't be surprised.
Given the fact that she had no problem crossing that picket line to attend
some Oscars after party, I'm also not surprised.
Let's get back to some of the people though who actually did do the right
thing.
So a union representative said that Casey Affleck, after hearing about
the protest from the organizers, gave a thumbs up and turned away from the party.
Love to hear it.
Also a representative for
the protest said that LaKeith Stanfield told the assembled group quote,
I respect what you're doing, but it's unclear whether or not he went inside.
But it's good to show solidarity with a statement, hopefully he didn't go inside.
But there are others who decided to skip the party after learning about
the boycott, I wanna give them a lot of credit as well.
Gabrielle, Union Spike Lee, Issa Rae.
I'm so happy to hear it, I love her so much.
Samira Wiley, Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen, Tom Morello,
not surprised about that at all by the way.
Edie Falco, Amanda Seyfried, and everyone else that you see on that list.
Daveed Diggs, Ta-Nehisi Coates and
Sarah Silverman have all publicly backed the boycott and I love to hear it.
Sarah Silverman is also wonderful.
I mean, she's pretty active, politically speaking, and
I love hearing her perspectives.
So that solidarity is important.
It's really important to show that, the workers at these places that we love so
much, that we enjoy going to are being treated right, they're being paid well.
But more importantly that their work environment is a safe one,
a place that they actually feel safe going to and earning a living in.
And based on what we've heard from these employees at the Chateau Marmont,
that has not been the case.
And it's really sad to see all of these incredibly wealthy celebrities
not really taking into account their privilege.
They love to virtue signal about privilege, but when push comes to shove,
they never actually carry out the right actions that show solidarity
with the workers.