Controversy Brings Out Pettiness in Humans

One can only hope that the Academy are generally smarter than this, or more mature? But after Dave Karger reported on the Chartier emailgate, and the Carpetbagger did too, some of Karger’s commenters illustrated how and why people can embody stupidity and why scandals can sometimes cost contenders votes:

* Ambient Lite
Excellent idea! I looked him up, he’s quite lanky and should be able to pull it off.
I see you, rich braggy douchebag.

* Shdrew
Good Lord, this guy is a huge douche. I was already rooting against THL because I think the movie isn’t very good, but now I really hope it doesn’t win. Also, can you imagine the brouhaha that would errupt if James Cameron had sent out a message like this against THL?

* Jane
What Chartier did was incredibly tacky, desperate and stupid, but it is too late to make a difference in the race. If I was an academy member, I would put Hurt locker lower on my ballot because of the email.

And even in our own comments section, one person writes:

I agree that most ballots are probably already in. But hopefully this is enough to tip things in Avatar’s favour.

It’s funny that up until EmailGate, The Hurt Locker was rockin’ the whole “ahh gee shucks, we’re just this tiny little film” schtick. But now it’s clear to everyone they’re just as dirty and scheming as the big boys.

To be fair, many of the commenters on EW are being more level-headed about it. I just think it’s funny that there are some people who would actually change their vote over a thing like this. Uh, gee, good thing they aren’t voters?

Meanwhile, Jeff Wells at Hollywood-Elsewhere provides a much more reasonable response called “The Story that Wasn’t There.”