Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Disney Apparently Ordered Award for Jenner

In my previous post I discussed the possibility of bribery being involved in the selection of the so called courage award for the actor formerly known as Bruce Jenner.  I had planned to ask in this post if Disney might have ordered ESPN to give the award to Jenner because it was thinking about a movie deal with him to take advantage of his previous association with the popular Kardashians.   Then I discovered that Disney had premiered its own reality show about a man becoming a woman called "Becoming Us" at the same time as the Vanity Fair article and the courage award announcement.

There is an old saying in the field of counter terrorism that can apply to other areas of human behavior.    "Once is an accident.  Twice is a coincidence.  Three times is enemy action,"

It is unlikely that those three events occurred at the same time by coincidence.  The fact that Disney was in direct control of two events and could have influenced the third indicates that Disney arranged for the Vanity Fair article and the award announcement to coincide with the series premier.  

My understanding of the way programs are scheduled is that schedules are usually set months in advance because of the time needed to write, cast and perform the program.   Disney likely told  ESPN someone at Disney would select the winner of the Arthur Ashe award so the people at ESPN  wouldn't announce giving the award to a legitimate candidate.  Disney  probably didn't tell the people at ESPN the name of Disney's selection at first to avoid the name becoming public before Disney was ready.

Jenner is in no way qualified to receive the Arthur Ashe award because he hasn't done anything yet except talk.  A recipient of the Arthur Ashe award should first demonstrate he can walk the walk and not just talk the talk.   In the past the award was given only after the recipient had done something, usually over a significant period of time except in tragic circumstances such as the Columbine massacre.  Recipients have generally either encountered  personal tragedy such as dread medical disorders or murder or done something significant to help  others.   

If the award was really about the homosexual/transsexual situation, the logical recipient would be long time female impersonator RuPaul Charles, the so-called "drag queen " who has been impersonating women, onstage and offstage,  and helping others to do so for  years. RuPaul has improved the image of those female impersonators called "drag queens" who had previously been at the fringe of the entertainment field.   RuPaul is a recording artist whose recordings have appeared on the charts in both America and Britain.  RuPaul's acting credits include appearing as a woman in movies based on the wholesome American family sitcom "The Brady Bunch".

Jenner doesn't look like he will be significantly different from any other female impersonator.  RuPaul is obviously a better choice than  Jenner if the award is to go to a female impersonator.  But then RuPaul is a  black man of ordinary means who entered the business at the bottom and worked his way up.   Jenner is a rich white guy who until recently was part of the Kardashian family media "circus".  This situation has allowed Jenner to enter the female impersonator business at the top with Jenner's own reality show instead of having to earn the opportunity through performances.

I believe Jenner is getting preferential treatment because of his association with the Kardashians, but if I were black I ,might think otherwise.   In fact if I were black and a member of a civil rights organization I would be encouraging my fellow members to demonstrate against Disney / ESPN because of the misuse of the Arthur Ashe award to benefit a white entertainer. 

Jenner is getting an opportunity to realize a long standing dream and get paid for it.   Other suggested candidates had to give up their dreams, or at least alter them.   There is a saying that if life throws you lemons, you should make lemonade. Lauren Hill and Noah Galloway didn't just make lemonade.  They made lemon meringue pie.    

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