Two large Oscar statues at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles await Sunday night’s attendees at the 81st annual Academy Awards ceremony.
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences already has announced some awards — and already has produced controversy. , the longtime spokesman and fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award on Sunday evening for his tireless efforts on behalf of the group. During his 43 years as host of the group’s Labor Day telethon, the organization has taken in almost $2 billion. “The Telethon is the most effective philanthropic event of its kind,” said MDA President and CEO Gerald C. Weinberg in a statement. “So it’s appropriate that the man who makes it all possible has been singled out for his matchless compassion.” Still, some weren’t thrilled with the academy’s selection. Mr. Lewis got into hot water during the 2007 telethon when he made a joke involving the term “illiterate faggot.” Though he apologized profusely, he tripped up again in 2008 when he called cricket a “fag game.” Hollywood insider Nikki Finke took to her popular blog “Deadline Hollywood Daily” to rail against Mr. Lewis’ receiving the award.
“Despite Lewis’ laudatory 42 years of raising money for MDA,” she wrote, “his publicly demonstrated debasement of gays doesn’t make him a humanitarian in my eyes.”