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3 Coups at the Oscars

by Jeannine Ross

03/27/01

What a whirlwind of activity.  It started with going down to the Shrine auditorium on Saturday night with Bob.  What a loss of innocence.  The Shrine,which is portrayed on T.V. as being glamorous is really a dingy dump.  What I learned is that you really can't believe anything you see on T.V.  Not surprising since they lie and cover everything up, including our protest. 

We stayed there for about 1 1/2 hrs.  We got a lot of support, such as people wanting to take their picture with Bob as he held his Oscar and sign that "Bush wins Best Performance in a Coup de etat." We sold some bumper stickers, including one to a cop who was afraid someone would see him buying it on duty.

On Oscar day we arrived early to get our spot and boy did we get a spot.  It was right directly in front of where every star had to get out of their limo(Coup #1).  We loaded up the railing set up in front of us with our Bush Stole the Election Banner and signs.  Our signs faced the whole crowd.  Everyone in the stands could see them. We got press almost immediately.  That is international, not domestic press.  Although E News did film our banners from far as well.

By noon a group of supporters arrived and the ball really started rolling.  They were kids from an inner city comedy improv group.  They pumped up the energy and we all started chanting "No More Bushit", and "Impeach Bush."  Everyone started watching us, we were the stars and the sideshow. 

Around 1:00 our arial banner went by with "Bush Stole the Election, Oralmajorityonline.com"  We made sure everyone saw it by yelling "look up in the sky!"
More and more supporters started showing.  Some of the people in the crowd started holding up our signs just so they could stand where we were, the best spot there. We chanted for 3 hours that "Bush stole the election," "Gore won," "Bush is a thief," "Bush stole my vote," Bush stole your vote," (actually after all that chanting Bush really stole our voices!) "Hollywood speak up," etc. Plus we sang Happy Birthday to "President Gore!" Everyone was watching us.  All the people in the stands, the people who worked there, the press, the cops, the stars.  They were taking our picture.  We were very vocal and very loud.  The headline should have read "Protesters Spoil Oscar Show," but of course it didn't.

Unfortunately, most of the big stars managed to avoid looking directly at us, although Benecio Del Toro gave us a nod of appreciation, as did the screenwriter from Traffic. The best part was when Donald Trump and his girlfriend turned around, he waved to us and she looked astonished, laughing.  We got it on film (Coup #2).

After it was over a girl from Spain said to us "I'm sympathetic to your cause, but you were so cruel.  You were so loud the whole time!"  Bob said, "We had to do it." 

Of course, we didn't end up on any local news or national news broadcasts.  How they managed to cut us out is amazing, as we were very loud and very visible.

Just when you thought it was over, on my plane home on Monday I saw the attorney Gerry Spence.  Since he does all the political shows, like Geraldo and is sympathetic to liberal causes and people's rights I figured I had a golden opportunity.  (Coup #3)  I decided to write him a note telling him about our Oscar protest and all the other protests going on around the country.  I told him about the Oral Majority and that we are demanding a federal investigation into election fraud.  I told him that the media is trying to silence our voices and I told him from one American to another that he needs to speak out because our democracy is in danger of being taken away.  I told him to use his extensive media connections.  I put the note together with the article from the AP wire about our protest and I put it on his tray table as he was sleeping.  When we exited the plane I saw that he had taken it with him.  We'll see if it does anything.