![]() ![]() As Levis states in her blog: “Your outrage rings hollow when you can’t even be bothered to learn his name.” Streep’s speech regurgitated these stereotypes and further compounded the problem by not mentioning Kovaleski by name. These include portrayals of the disabled person as pitiable and pathetic, as an object of ridicule and as incapable of participating fully in community life. In 1992, Colin Barnes, a professor of disability studies, wrote a report in which he outlined commonly recurring stereotypes associated with disability. When Trump enacted his mockery was he perhaps channelling Tom Hanks’s performance in Forrest Gump? Or Cuba Gooding Jr’s portrayal of an intellectually disabled man in the film Radio? This is one of the many stereotypical tropes that disabled people have to contend with, tropes that ironically have been propagated by the Hollywood machine. Levis goes on to state her outrage that despite all the bizarre and outrageous acts and pronouncements of the president-elect, it is the mocking of Kovaleski that the public regard as the low point of Trump’s electoral campaign: “Because he’s a disabled man, and because we all know that disabled people are powerless and can’t fight back.” If he wanted to respond, he does have the power and the platform. Arguably he has found that the best way to respond to Trump is silence. Kovaleski is a Pulitzer prize winning journalist. Perhaps this is best summed up by writer and blogger Sarah Levis from : “While I agree that Donald Trump mocking Serge Kovalesk … is crude and tasteless”, she writes, “I take absolute exception to the idea that Kovaleski has no power to fight back”. So why have disabled activists proved to be Streep’s harshest critics? In the 2015 speech, given at a rally in South Carolina, Trump appeared to mock him by making hand gestures, but also, by inferring in the manner and tone of his voice, and the exaggerated blank expression on his face, that Kovaleski is in some way intellectually disabled. In this case, most notably in his right hand and wrist. Kovaleski has a physical disability, arthrogryposis, which results in contractures of the joints. That was not the case, as best as I can remember.”) (When asked about this, Kovaleski responded: “I certainly do not remember anyone saying that thousands or even hundreds of people were celebrating. In 2015, Donald Trump alleged that he had seen thousands celebrating the attacks and referenced the Kovaleski/Kunkle article. Shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001, Kovaleski and fellow reporter Fredrick Kunkle were investigating rumours that “law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks”. The disabled reporter concerned is Serge Kovaleski, formerly of the Washington Post. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. ![]() But it was effective, and it did its job. There was one performance this year that stunned me. ![]() She segued wonderfully from talking about acting into her feelings about the current president-elect: The speech was broadcast around the world, regurgitated on thousands of Twitter feeds and Facebook posts. Streep was at the time accepting the Cecil B DeMille award for her lifetime achievement in the film and television industry. Writing in The Spectator, Charles Moore declared that: “Meryl Streep should watch her words on disrespecting the afflicted.” One might not expect the disabled community to agree with Moore, however many do, but for an entirely different set of reasons. Hollywood applauded, the public approved, and fellow stars lined up to offer their approval, including Robert De Niro, who wrote a letter of support to his former co-star.īut her speech also stoked the fires that fuel indignant outrage from those who argue that actors should stick to the script and not get involved in politics. Meryl Streep’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes hauled Donald Trump over the coals for mocking a disabled reporter. ![]()
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