The Time's Up movement started as a response to Harvey Weinstein, and women in Hollywood organized this movement to show solidarity throughout women in entertainment. Even though some people might think this movement is #MeToo part two, Time's Up is much more than a hashtag. If you visit the website there are staggering statistics of sexual harassment, resources for women in need and an amazing website showing immense planning and organization to provide aid and support for women.
I heard that women were going to wear black before the red carpet coverage started, but I didn't expect to see every woman wearing black. There wasn't a spec of color all night — and the movement didn't stop with the couture, because the women were ready to speak. Debra Messing (Will and Grace) started the night by telling E! reporter Giuliana Rancic that she was disappointed the E! network didn't believe in equal pay.
"Time is up and we want diversity and we want intersectional gender parity. We want equal pay, and I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn't believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as male co-hosts," Messing said.
Rancic did not respond.
Two huge MVP's for the night were Natalie Portman and Oprah Winfrey. Natalie Portman took the stage with director Ron Howard to present the award for Best Director. Going off-script, Portman said, "Here are the all-male nominees."
The category had come under fire for snubbing Greta Gerwig for directing Lady Bird, which took home the awards for Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan) and Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy (editor's note: read our article about the National Society of Film Critics' awards, where Greta Gerwig did win).
While Natalie Portman fired a great warning shot into the air, the kill shot came from Oprah Winfrey. Taking the stage to accept her Cecil B. DeMille award, Oprah delivered a speech that had been meticulously crafted. The basis of the speech wasn't about her career, her various acting credits, or even her self-made empire. She rested on this:
"At this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this award. I want all the girls watching to know: A new day is on the horizon. When that new day finally dawns, it will be because of the magnificent women and many of them are in this room tonight."
She owned the room. Her speech was sincere, powerful, moving and insightful — but the real power was watching the reactions by the women in the room. They listened on the edge of their seats, waiting for another moment to applaud. The internet instantly lit up with rumors of a 2020 run (and I am here for it).
Time is also up for something else, which may have been the slightly unspoken thesis of the night: Time is up for politics to be designated for news channels only. I'm so insanely tired of hearing things like, I wish they would just talk about movies and leave politics out of it! or Who are they to talk about politics?
Guess what? We elected a reality TV show host as President, so that argument is dead forever.
I think Natalie Portman is more qualified than Betsy DeVos to be the Secretary of Education. I would sleep better if Oprah had the nuclear codes and Donald Trump did not.
Women wore black last night because they were going to a funeral. The America we had is dead. Willfully ignoring sexual harassment is over. Politics is now apart of entertainment, and every part of our lives. And hopefully soon, women will be in control of a lot more than just the microphone.
This article appears in Jan 4-11, 2018.