Piers Morgan Uncensored - "UNWATCHABLE!" Oscars Round-Up With Critical Drinker & Nerdrotic

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

Last night the world turned away from the chaos of current affairs to bask in the glow of Tinseltown’s most auspicious event; the Oscars. After some bumpy ceremonies in recent years, the 97th Academy Awards was actually fairly muted. Still, there were eyebrow-raising moments to spark people’s interest. Comedy-drama about a young sex worker ‘Anora’ won Best Picture as the lead Mikey Madison ‘honoured’ the sex worker community, and host Conan O’Brien took a swipe at trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón’s past controversial social media posts. For a discussion on the cultural moments and performances that unfolded on stage, Piers Morgan turns to YouTuber Nerdrotic, Uncensored contributor Esther Krakue, author and activist Ernest Owens and content creator and film buff The Critical Drinker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I also just want to again recognize and honor the sex worker community. More Oscar nominations are equal to Gone with the Win. It's terrible. It's a terrible movie that didn't even deserve to be nominated for one. Sex Work is something in which a person has agency and choice. It's like a pretty woman was sponsored by Only Bath. Yeah. When you ruin it like this, it just becomes embarrassing.

Where would Shirley Bassie bring her out, you know? Well, last year, thanks to Barbie and Oppenheimer, the Oscars were labelled the Year of the Blockbuster. This year's theme might be apparently massive movies most of us haven't seen. Nominations were led by the brutalists, a substance, Amelia Perez, a real pain, a Nora, and a complete unknown.

Well, most of them were completely unknown, not just to me, but to most people, I would imagine. As a result, some are calling it the most niche and indeed, in the end of the dullest Oscar ceremony has ever been. Where's Will Smith when you need him? So has Hollywood given up on crowd-pleasing, or is it awful for not being cultural

sophisticated enough. Here to give us their verdict on Hollywood's Big Night, author and movie critic, Will Jordan, aka the Critical Drinker, from the Nodotic YouTube channel, Gary Begler, unscensor contributor Esther Cracko, and the author of the case of cancer culture. And it's all of you. Welcome to all of you. All right, let me start with you, Nedrotic, if I may. God, it seems so bloody boring this year. Right? No one did anything. It was so, the most exciting thing was old Adrian Brody, passing his chance. chewing gum to Harvey Weinstein's ex-wife, who he's now with. Yeah, that was a good catch, by the way.

Possing it. I mean, I would have put it, well, there was no, I would have put it under my eyes. Well, we've got a clip, I think. Let's have a look at that. Let's see, Adrian Brody, tossing the gum. I'm going to say, if I tried that stunt with my wife, she'd have gone absolutely ballistic. To be fair to hers, you probably used to it. Can we just get our heads around the fact?

This is kind of one of the first big public outings of this couple, where you've got this incredible actor and you've got the ex-wife of Harvey Weinstein and obviously no shame on her for what the beast of a husband did but it's still a pretty random thing isn't it to see it play out in the front row of an Oscars event and especially catch a piece of gum being thrown at her that was extremely weird but the show itself you could tell a memo came down to refrain from anything overtly political. Outside of, I would say, three instances, this was bland as it gets,

and they needed to do that. Conan O'Brien has been the best host of a very bland off. I thought he was great. In years. I thought he was great. Conan's a bit like the old school, going back to Johnny Carson,

Jay Leno, these guys. They didn't play party politics. They didn't take a side. You know, they'd gently whack politicians, but on both sides. And what I liked last night was it wasn't a big political fest? No, it wasn't.

It was a snore fest for the most part. And of most of these movies, as you said, nobody's seen. Nobody's, the best picture winner was made for $6 million, which is great. That's great for independent film. That's roughly Harrison Ford's weed budget on Captain America 4. And it won best picture. But is it good for the Oscars? Because I just have a feeling like this.

You want the Oscar winning movies to be things people have actually seen, don't you? Yes, you do. And I don't. I think there was a there's a double message here because they really wanted, Anora is a true independent film. And they really wanted that to win because they need to, they need to reinvigorate the independent film. That's their minor leagues.

And it's been, thanks to streaming, it's been destroyed. But for viewership, I don't know what the ratings are going to be. I'm guessing pretty low. Terrible. Because nothing really happened.

We were praying for a slap like you at some point. But overall, you know, And listen, the biggest snub was Debbie Moore. I'm just going to come out. I was actually, you know what? I was, I actually hate it when you have a legend who's never won an Oscar. And throughout the awards process and Critical Drinker, I'll bring you in here.

When you're on a journey that looks like it's an unstoppable pathway to finally getting that Oscar, which you've coveted your entire life, and Debbie Moore's done some great films. I will never hear anyone tell me that one of the great movies is not G.I. Jane, for example. truly overlooked by the academy. But I did feel for, and she couldn't contain her real sadness at missing out, because she probably thinks, well, that'll be it then. That's my last chance.

I think so, to some extent. And it would have been nice to see a movie like The Substance that did get quite a lot of commercial attention and was widely known for her to get best actress. I think that would have been a great recognition. Not just her work on this film, which was fantastic, but also just a lifetime achievement award almost because she has had an epic career that spanned absolute decades.

And I agree with you, GI Jane was a really good movie. Brilliant. I like that. The extraordinary thing about Anora, which won five awards, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress Among Them. It's an R-rated romantic comedy about a lovable lap dancing prostitute who falls for one of her rich Russian clients. Lashings of nudity sex.

The F-word is used 479 times. More than Goodfellor straight out of Compton and Pulp Fiction. Esther, I mean, the one thing I loved about this movie is it's such a refreshing antidote to the squeaky clean bullshit we've been fed up for so long. I mean, it looks like we're back to very inappropriate stuff. It's like if Pretty Woman was sponsored by Only Fans. Yeah.

It was very X-rated. I mean, the plot was, you know, I feel like this is something that's probably happened in the West End. Some prostitute from Lancashire falls for her, you know, Russian sponsor. or whatever. So the plot wasn't anything new. But yeah, I mean, look, life imitates arts, but it can also push it to the extreme. And I like the fact that this was something

a little bit different. Was it weird? Was it weird? Even though it was really just a porn film. Well, that's the thing. It was like refreshingly inappropriate for an Oscar winner. But Mikey Madison, who won the best actress, made a speech, it's quite interesting. And I'll get your take of Ms. Esther, about the need to recognize and honor the sex work community.

Let's take a look at this clip. I also just want to, again, recognize and honor the sex worker community. I will continue to support and be an ally. All of the incredible people, the women that I've had the privilege of meeting from that community has been one of the highlights of this entire incredible experience. I mean to put my prudish cap on, Esther. But why do we actually feel the need to recognize and honor the sex work? community out of interest.

Because we've been collectively lobotomized. The people that can sit there and glorify sex work don't have any actual clue of what basically renting out your orifices in your body is like for 99% of women that are sex workers. They're being pimped out by a bunch of misogynists and treated like holes for hire. You know, the kinds of prostitutes in the West that seem to have it good have police officers that actually take them seriously when they say they've been assaulted. Or, you know, they haven't been pimped out from the young age. age. I happen to pole dance for sport and fun. And I know loads of pole dancers that say, oh, sex work is real work. No, actually, you're just an online prostitute. You've never actually

been pimped out to a man and treated like a collective holes to pay for. Ernest, why are you? Why are you shaking your head, Ernest? And you have to be a man to see it this way, because if you were actually a woman thinking there's something respectable or even desirable about sex work, you're just, you're completely missing reality. All right. It's horrible. Ernest seems to be missing that reality. Ernest?

No, I think that there's levels, right? There's levels to it. And I think that there are, you know, what you're talking about in many ways is human trafficking and exploitation. That's what much of sex work is. I hate to break it to people that want to glorify it. To be clear, sex work in the way in which is being talked about in a Nora and for others is something in which a person has agency and choice.

If you're in a situation where you're being exploited without agency. and without choice, that is not sex work. And I think there is a difference. I can tell you the overwhelming majority of women would not choose to do that. But this is the thing. Here's the thing. As a woman who knows other women, the overwhelming majority of women do not want their bodies to be treated as holes for hire. I know this may sound crazy to men that think, oh, so long as we've paid for it, it's all above board.

But I'm telling you, the lines are very blurred. But also, Ernest, regardless of what you think of the industry, and you've both obviously got different views about it. Regardless of that, is the Oscars an appropriate, given his watch by a lot of families and young people, you know, it aired early in the evening. Is it appropriate to be making a big point of honoring the sex worker community in that way?

As if they're curing counsel. There's a lot of people that are having critiques about what it is and what, I mean, people give their acceptance speeches on various topics. I mean, one could argue that the Departite was a very violent, grotesque movie by Martin. and Scorsese and many his films have been celebrated, honored, and nominated by the Academy. I didn't hear people stand there and say, I'd like to honor the gangster community.

Well, no, but there is. Oh, there you go, there. What are you talking about? The party was literally about the gangster community. Why would you? There's no comparison. Anora is a celebration of that, of that work. And so by them even nominating.

By men who don't understand it. That's why they're celebrating it. You know the biggest opponents to sex? Do you know the biggest opponents of sex work? Actual feminists. They've actually had to deal with women that have been in this trade, that don't have the glamour. I mean, to the point where many of them can't even access medication for sexually

talented diseases. I have a lot of sympathy for sex workers, right, to be clear. And I certainly wouldn't want them to be demonized or to be vilified at the Oscars or another thing. It just seems to me a bit of a leap to then make a big point of, hey, look, we've got this global televised event and we're going to, we feel this need, as she put it. to recognize and honor that community.

I found that a bit of a leap too far. Let me bring Nedrodig in here about a joke that Conan O'Brien made about Carla Sophia Gasco. Now, she's the transgender actress, who was nominated for best actress, despite obviously being born a biological man, and was favorite to win until a bunch of tweets came out, which made her out to be a pretty unpleasant piece of work,

Islamophobic, racist, I think homophobic, was in. It was a full nine yards. Let's see what Conan said about about Carla. Via Gascon is here tonight. And yeah. And Carla, if you are going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name

is Jimmy Kimmel. I love Conan. I've done his show a few times in the past. He's such a cool guy. He should have been the all-time great, late-time guy actually, and he got cruelly stitched up. It's a brutal world that late in our world. But, Nadrottie,

What struck me is fascinating is two things. One, imagine if Carla Sophia Gascone have won best actress with all the raging debate about, say, trans athletes, which Trump has banned and so on, this whole thing of trans women

taking jobs, accolades, awards, records from actual biological women, I think that would have massively intensified this debate if you'd had an actual transgender winner of best actress. What do you think of that first before we get to the tweets?

Oh, before we get to the tweets, I think that's what everybody was looking for until Carla Sophia Gascon torpedoed his own career. By the way, I watched the movie. He plays a guy for the first third of the movie. Then he plays a woman. He was up for best actress.

It would have been a joke. It would have been the ultimate joke and shown that Oscars aren't taken seriously. the world doesn't take it seriously. Nobody, nobody wants to see this. Again, I saw the movie. It's terrible. It's a terrible movie that didn't even deserve to be nominated for one, much less more, more Oscar nominations are equal to gone with the win. And a couple of more than a couple of Lord of the Rings movies, it was a total virtue signal. And my conspiratorial mind here is that they might have discovered that the culture had shift and they found a way to

get out of that. I think Sophia should have backed out and allowed a woman to be up for best actors. But also, but also, because isn't the whole point of being out. Hang on, I'm talking to, but critical drinking. The other thing is, what was she doing at the ceremony, she, he, or whatever you want to call Carla? I think people can use any pronouns are like. I don't really know what to call transgender people anymore because I feel so strongly about the erosion of women's rights as being used. going on, that it feels almost a contradictory thing to then refer to them with female pronouns. However, if that's what they want to be called, to me, it's a lesser issue than the reality

of them, you know, infringing on women's rights. So let me come to this issue of the tweets, because it seemed to be a critical drinker, that if you'd had a, say, for example, a Republican supporting male white actor who'd come out with a bunch of racist, tweets, which emerged. That person would not be sitting there near the front of the audience at the Oscars, right? Not true. Well, hang on. Honest, last time I checked, you weren't called Critical Drinker.

Critical Drinker, I don't think that person would be sitting there, would they? They absolutely wouldn't know. And we've seen this happen before with many actors that have been cancelled because of things that they've said in the past. Like something as simple as an offhand joke that was perhaps acceptable 10 years ago, isn't now. James Gunn, for example. He made some slightly off-color tweets, shall we say, back in the day. And that set his career back for years.

He was fired from Marvel, had to completely relocated. I defended him in a column, but I was one of the very few that did. Yeah. But that's an example. Like, if he had been perhaps a bit more diverse or ticked a few more boxes,

I'm willing to bet that would not have happened to him in the slightest. So, Ernest, two things. Would you have been happy? for a transgender actor to win best actress at the expense of an actual woman first. Would you have been happy for that? I don't agree with your premise. I think that a trans actress is an actress

and they are in the respective quality and category. But I want to address the major point that was made earlier. So you wouldn't have minded if a transgender actor had one best actress? Mel Gibson is the person that you all skipped over. Mel Gibson had lots of anti-Semitic racist remarks and tweets and still got Named for an Oscar to which he was able to show up to the Academy Awards and he was still nominated for an Oscar in the 2010.

Woody Allen has been, quote, unquote, canceled and criticized for years and still receive Oscar nominations as well. Quentin Tarantino has made various problematic. Romo, actually, to be fair to you, Ernest, I don't often agree with you, Ernest, as you know. That's like a decade ago. To be fair, I mean, Roman...

Bill Gibson is not. We're going to act like Mel Gibson. Roman Poliski... As long as we forget, Roman Polanski got a standing ovation led by Meryl Streep after he fled America after he had raped an underage girl. I think this is the issue. I think the fight back of let's cancel these people because they canceled other people in the past or they refused to cancel it is not helpful. I think the biggest scandal here is the fact that Amelia Perez is simply unwatchable.

I mean, I think we should be, we should be actually questioning whether the academy have functioning eyes. that they nominated this dumpster fire, which, I mean, listen, I'm all for artistic license and, you know, putting out films that people may not agree with, you know, art is about expression. This film was unwatchable. I think that's the bigger issue. It was so bad that I don't even know.

I don't care if the nominee was a transgender woman or like a tree trunk. These kinds of films shouldn't be up for Oscars. I'm sorry, it's offensively bad. It did feel, I mean, to be fair, It did feel like karma, didn't it? That Hollywood as a community were pushing this pretty crap movie, by all accounts, because it featured a transgender actor who might win best actress. And for them, that ticked every possible box,

other than the one that's being ticked right now by the White House, who are trying to defend women's rights. And then it turns out that this actor, actress, whatever you want to call Carla Gascon, had a history of appallingly offensive tweet, in which she basically insulted absolutely everybody. I mean, there was a karma there, wasn't there? I mean, I think that what happens in any situation

is that when anybody is on either side, playing into any type of identity politics that are not genuine or sincere, virtual signaling when it's not sincere, it could lead to that. I mean, we've seen good films that have had queer narratives do way better. I think a moonlight, which was an incredible film, that incredible acting that was worthy when it went,

picture over La La Land. But this movie was not good. Regardless of how you feel about trans people, whatever, it just was not a good film. La La La Land was also another terrible film, by the way. Nala Land was great. La La La Land was fantastic. The music, I often play the soundtrack when I buy my pool.

You may call me a musical hater. However, I do. I am. I am. I'm the president of the musical hating club. Name one. Greek was better. Greece.

Greece. Grace. My goodness, back of my 70. Let me play a clip. This is the only one that really from Conan that strayed towards a political jack. He didn't actually name Trump, but he said this. You know, Anora's having a good night.

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, that's great news. Two wins already. I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian. You know what, Nordic? It was a kind of gentle little rib ticula at Trump. He didn't even name Trump.

He got the cheer because, of course, Hollywood wanted it to be a slathering Trump-bashing event. But it never morphed into that, which given all that's been going on in the last few weeks, was pretty miraculous. Is this because they've got the memo that more than half of America voted for Trump again, this time round, and actually Trump bashing ain't that popular with the ones who did? It's not popular at all. As a matter of fact, a lot of people are very happy the way things are going on in this country right now.

dare say a majority. And that's why Hollywood did indeed get the memo. I thought there was going to be Ukraine flags everywhere. And to get just one passing mention right before they announced Mark Hamill coming on stage, by the way, that was right before. And I was doing the watch party. And I'm like, man, this has been really tame. They haven't made any political statements.

And then he said that right afterwards, which I'm like, ah, but honestly, I just kind of, considering the whole of the show, the three, four hour show, it was one of three things. And it was kind of expected at that point, but I didn't think it was that controversial. No, no, I thought Conan generally was brilliant, actually. I was happy to see him do it many more times. Critical Driggins, let's bring in. Morgan Freeman paid a very nice heartfelt tribute to Gene Hackman.

Let's take a look at that first. He received two Oscars, but more importantly, he won the hearts of film lovers all over the world. Gene always said, I don't think about legacy. I just hope people remember me as someone who tried to do good work. So I think I speak for us all when I say, Gene, you'll be remembered for that. And for so much more. First of all, critical drinking.

I mean, A, Gene Hackman will come to his statute as an actor. I just remember thinking when I heard about his death. I couldn't remember a bad movie starring Gene Hackman. I mean, almost, he made over 80. I'm sure there are. I mean, behind enemy lines wasn't great, man. I'm not going to lie. I love that film.

Oh, no. No, you've gone too early. But before we get to his body of work, which is incredible, the circumstances of his death are so weird. You know, someone said to me, what do you think happen? I said, well, from everything I'm seeing, reading, picking up with my sort of journalist head on, it looks like. to me like maybe something happened to Gene Hackman, he may have had a heart attack or something,

then his wife, who was way younger, only in her early 60s, a load of pills found in the bathroom. Did she maybe take her own life because she couldn't deal with life without him? And then they had three German Shepherd dogs, two of whom lived, one of whom was stuck in a closet. Maybe the dog got stuck in a closet and wasn't able to be fed or watered for the nine days before discovery and just died that way. Is that your most likely theory for what happened here? I think so. It seems like the most plausible chain of events, as tragic as it is.

And the fact that it was nine days before someone checked on them, I think is equally disturbing and tragic, really, that they didn't have more attention given to them. And we all knew this was going to happen that Gene would pass away. He was 95 years old. he'd retired 20 years previously. It's always sad when it happens, and it's particularly tragic in this case that it seems to have taken another person's life

who was much younger and chose to end it. That seems to be the... We don't obviously know, but it just seems to be... We don't know, it's speculation. Yeah. But let's turn to Gene Hatman, the actor. Critical Drinker, I'll start with you since I'm talking to you about him.

I mean, there was so unforgiven, Mississippi Burning, the French connection, Crimson Tide, the conversation, Lex Luthor in Superman. He had some amazing movies, some amazing roles. In the pantheon of actors, where does he rank? He is going to be up there with the likes of Clint Eastwood. That generation of actors, I don't think we're ever going to see the like of them again, sadly.

Men who were brought up in a very different time in Hollywood and a different time in American history. And it forged them into much more interesting characters than perhaps we see today. And we are really losing part of our cultural heritage when we lose that generation. And sadly, it's almost there now. They are very old now.

And yeah, I think Gene Hackman absolutely should rank up there with some of the greatest Hollywood actors. What was your favorite Jane Hattman movie? So much like yourself, I think Unforgiven was absolutely fantastic movie. He gave a superb, honest, raw performance in that. I think my favorite might actually, there'll be a movie called Bat-21. It's a Vietnam movie.

He's a pilot who gets shot down, and he has to try and hike his way out to safety, and he's talked over the radio by a pilot who's helping him out. Gene gives such a superb every man performance in that. He is a man who's up against it. He is completely unprepared for this. And he's witnessing the real heroin experience of war right on the ground firsthand. Because he's always been flying at, you know, 40,000 feet, just observing things from a distance. And this is a much different experience for him.

And he absolutely brings it throughout that movie. So I think that might be one of my favorite performances of his ever. Esther, you are obviously way too young to have remembered an active Gene Hatman actor. But, I mean, we all have watched his movies. What did you think of him? I mean, I think one of the things you've just said about him, his generation of actors dying and the kind of masculine, really traditional masculine role he embodied.

I think one of the things that I think is really sad is that many men today, I suspect, wouldn't be able to identify with the kind of actor and the roles that he played, which is why it feels like a loss that it's dying off. I mean, the reason why he was so popular is because he resonated with the men of his generation. Most men now can't imagine not splitting the bill on a 40-pound Nando's bill, let alone going to war.

And, you know, facing the kinds of real threats that previous generations had. And so I think it's more of a kind of, you know, a synopsis of the cultural moment that we're existing today. I can't remember. Yeah, I mean, Jack Nicholson was at some awards show in the last week. And that really, to see him looking pretty infirm now, it was great to see him.

But I used to see him at the L.A. Lakers, he was always caught outside there and you catch him and haven't seen him for a while. So I know he's been pretty unwell. But people like Jack Nicholson, to me, the greatest, perhaps, of all of them. They're all reaching that age, aren't me? Clint Eastwood, you know, Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson. It's a sad collection of guys that you can't really point to the equivalent these days.

But we have Timothy Chalami. The male lead has changed. Maybe young people prefer that. I'm sure that, Ernest, you will, but these rugged, rugged old guys who are seducing women, chain smoking, drinking too much, all the things you loathe in life. No, I think he's a great actor. I liked him in the French connection. I think that was a classic.

He also played in some really good variety. I think one of the things that people forget is that he did the high brow, lowbrow. I mean, he was in basketball, sports films. He did everything. And I think one thing that is kind of missing right now is the versatility of the types of films actors are in. Like when I think about, you know, Denzel Washington, I think of actors who can do, you know, some high prestige films, but some good old crime films that just anybody can watch their

box office. success. I think we're missing that in Hollywood now. I think when I think about Timothy Charlemagne, he's like doing nothing but major big blockbuster films or like Oscar prestige films, but it would be nice to see him in just like a rom-com or something like light or something like a suspense thriller, you know? And I think that's what we're missing from actors in Hollywood right now is the ability to have crossover appeal. And I think Gene Hackman had that really. He did. He just had a great screen presence too, didn't he, the Drodite. I want to play a clip. This is just of him when Lex Luthor.

for Meet Superman for the first time. Pure charisma. It's open. Come in. My attorney will be in touch with you about the damage to the door. Otis, take the gentleman's cape. He was great in that, and it was very different to anything else, wasn't it? What did you make of him?

Gene Hackman? Pure charisma, and I agree with Ernest. We need to take in this moment. He was a pure, versatile, pure, versatile actor and something we're missing. I mean, he's, yeah, Jack Nicholson could just

be Jack Nicholson and everything and live off his charisma. But Gene Hackman can do comedy. He can do, he was in the bird cage. He was in a classic quick scene and young Frankenstein. He could do it all and we're never going to see this type of actor again. And it's sad. We're seeing the death of old school Hollywood happened real in real time by losing these legends that will again, never see the likes of again. This is, this is thanks to social media. We got to know the celebrity. And And their era is over. And last year was a lot of evidence of that. And you know, Jack Nicholson, you know, the interesting thing about the mystique around someone like him,

he hasn't given a television interview in over 45 years to anybody, anywhere in the world. He'll do printing. I wish more actors were like that. Yeah, I agree. He believes it kills the mystique that when you go to the movies, you've got to be able to disappear into the character. And if you know too much about the actors, it's very hard to do that. You think of someone like Daniel Day Lewis hardly ever does television interviews and is able to just morph into Abraham Lincoln or whoever it may be

much easier than the ones who you see popping up on all the chat show sofas, right? Yeah. Yeah. And they're not as marketed, but I mean, the last person I can think of with as much kind of range as you were saying is probably Kevin Bacon, but he's not like, you know. Who's that? Kevin Bacon. Yeah.

Like he's the one person that comes into mind that can actually probably do it all. You know, the cheesy rom-com as the. a dad, but also a film about, you know, a formed pedophile. I mean, where do you find that today? I think we can all agree the one who made the most great movies, and then the biggest collection of turkeys after that is Robert De Niro. Yes. I mean, he made unbelievably brilliant film, Raging Bull, you know, all these sort of

movies, and then bang, he just turned out. I think at some point in some point in the 2000s, he basically became a parody of himself. Yeah, he did. Just stop trying. Yeah. And that's been it for him. Let's talk.

I think there was something about going broke, too. I think it was. He was doing it for the money. I heard that. There were a bit of a divorce settlement that's pretty much. I want to end with James Bond because, well, A, because it's interesting as to that Amazon have got their clutches on the Bond franchise. Given that the actual Bond franchise has done nothing since Daniel Craig was supposedly

killed on. as the character. I'm actually excited that it's coming back at all because I love Bond. And I hope they do restore Bond a little bit back to the one that all men and women I know, apart from Ernest, would love Bond to be, which is no more crying, plenty more shooting, a lot more drinking. A lot more shaggy. A lot more shaggy. A lot more womanizing. Where he doesn't really care. But you're bugging about Anora, though, and about the sex work. Oh, no, I enjoy it. I love a Shaq Fest.

But let me play a click. Last night, for some weird reason, they didn't have live performances for Best Song, which may say a lot about the nominees. Instead, they did a musical and dance tribute to 60 years of James Bond, and by common consent, it was awful. Let's take a look.

This is the way the Americans are going to desecrate James Bond. I'm out, because, I mean, just live and let die alone. Paul McCartney and Wings did a fantastic version of that. I saw Axel Rose and Gunza Roads does it one. One Night Live. It was electric. That version there was like being slapped around the face with a damp dab from a small riverbed. Buh. That's what happens when Americans take over British intellectual properties that a lot of people love.

Lord of the Rings. God for who. Americans got involved in that. You ruin everything, you people. We ruin everything you guys create. I agree. Bond is essentially British. They need to get like that. Hang on, don't talk about each other.

Let me go to Critical Drinker first. Why did they even bother? It was so saccharine. It was so kind of cheesy. None of the performances were anywhere near the original stuff. Why do it? Where was Shirley Bassy? Bring her out, you know?

Because it's still got the veneer of coolness because it's Bond, but yeah, when you ruin it like this, it just becomes embarrassing. And I don't know about you. Like, is it just weird? Have the recent Bond songs been a bit shit? Yeah. Well, actually, I like to...

Adele did a really good one. Skyfall. That was really good. Yes. I love that. But actually, after that, I can't even remember. It's like they got glee actors to do it. It's like they glee fight everything.

Yeah, that was a low moment. You know what they need? They need a sample group of like bricklayers from like Newcastle to watch whatever they put out. And if they gets their thumbs up, then it's probably... Gold finger! Exactly. Yeah. Ernest, what's your favorite Bond song?

I mean, diamonds are fair. is hot. But I will say modern day, I would say Skyfall definitely does it for me. I did enjoy the Billy Eilish, but not for Bond. I'd like the song, but I don't think it was necessarily a good fit for Bond.

By the way, I couldn't tell what Billy Ilish was singing. I couldn't make out a single word of that. She just kind of mumbled her way through it. Yeah. I mean, out of interest, who's your favorite Bond? Esther? Hmm. Probably Pierce Brosnan.

Piers Broznor. I love the fact you called him Pierce, not Pierce is his name. It's making you think, Pierce, Brosndon, Pierce Morgan. Yeah, the very, very fine line. I know you'd love to say.

He's actually, he shows up very well on the list. Nodot. No Joddy, favorite bond? Oh, Sean Connery. Yeah. It's a very easy statement, accurate answer. Critical Drinker? It's close.

I do like Pierce Brosnan, but it's probably going to have to be Sean Connery. Ernest? Sean Connery. Do you know who I go for? Roger Moore. Oh, yeah. Love Roger Moore.

Because when I was young, genuinely, people would stop me in the street thinking I look like Roger Moore, happened more than once. Okay. So I've got a soft spot for it. But also, he had that perfect blend of the old womanizer, you know, with a twinkle in the eye, the charm, the right accent, and a steely eye dealer of death. And he gave me the best line ever about working with Bond girls because I said to him, Roger, I interviewed him for my life story show. I said, Roger, what was it like, you know, doing the love scenes? He said, well, Pears, he said, let me just tell you a little story. What I used to do was before we did it, do any love scene,

I would say to the lady playing the Bond Girl, I would like to apologize in advance if I get over-excited. And then he paused, and you said, and I would also like to apologize if I don't. I thought that was funny. I love it. Estee, you haven't laughed. I can't believe it.

I thought that was hilarious. You got to see it in context, I guess. Yeah. Maybe you had to be there. I thought it was very funny. Anyway, Esther, your grim face there was devastating. My God, you killed my punchline. We'll leave it.

Rather like the Bond tribute itself, we'll leave on that low note, which struck a dumb call with people. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. Here's walking on a sense that is proudly independent. The only boss around here is me. If you enjoy our show, we ask only one simple, hit subscribe on YouTube and follow Pierce Morgan Uncensored on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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