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Though we’re delighted, it’s Saturday morning and the weekend, this has made us feel more than a bit grumpy. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner decided to aid the constant sexism/discrimination of women working in the entertainment industry by telling actress Goldie Hawn, “most beautiful women can’t be funny.” According to The Guardian, the two were having a conversation at the Aspen Ideas Festival, and Eisner decided to suggest his “theory” as to why Goldie has stood out in Hollywood over the years. You guessed it. Because she’s beautiful, and she can “be funny.” How unbelievably patronising.
“From my position, the hardest artist to find is a beautiful, funny woman,” he said. “By far. They usually – boy am I going to get in trouble, I know this goes online – but usually, unbelievably beautiful women, you being an exception, are not funny,” he told Goldie.
“I know women who have been told they’re beautiful, they win Miss Arkansas, they don’t ever have to get attention other than with their looks. So they don’t tell a joke. In the history of the motion-picture business, the number of beautiful women – a Lucille Ball – that are funny, is impossible to find.”
This is an outrageous thing to say, in our opinion. But, unfortunately this isn’t the first time something like this has been said. Actor Joseph Gordon Levitt alluded to this argument once too (he apologised but the damage had been done) and we completely disagree. There are plenty of gorgeous, beautiful women in the entertainment industry today who have such a gift for comedic timing that it’s to be awed and admired. From Goldie (she is hilariously brilliant and equally stunning in Housesitter, FYI) to Tina Fey to Amy Schumer, Anna Kendrick and our own Maeve Higgins, the list goes on. These are beautiful, talented women who don’t deserve to be told they “can’t be funny” based on someone’s opinion of their beauty. It was Kendrick who famously said she was “okay with not being pretty,” but we have always thought she was both gorgeous:
And hilarious in equal measure:
To attempt to justify his comments, Eisner claimed that Hawn was an exception to the rule because she didn’t “think” she was attractive. Hawn confessed to thinking of herself as an “ugly duckling,” but she’s always been completely gorgeous (and she gives solid parenting advice too). We just think his comments are completely uncalled for and horribly sexist. Women can be funny, very beautiful and much more besides. Comments like this simply have to stop being said.
What do you think of his comments?
Via The Guardian
