The Media Research Center has never been a big fan of the gays and regularly has transgender freakouts. That, with its defining hatred of all things liberal, meant that there would be nothing fair or balanced about its so-called coverage of the Tony Awards, since Broadway actors tend to skew liberal and gay-friendly.
And indeed, Erik Soderstrom’s June 13 MRC report on the Tonys — under the headline “Tony Awards Go Further Left: Show’s 5 Worst Political Moments” — is all about ranting that Broadway actors said political things. He complained that one performer said nice things about Hillary Clinton, but “no one felt the need to bring up Hillary Clinton’s many scandals.” He ranted about a taped presentation from President Obama, grumbling that “Barack Obama has a remarkable affinity for making any event about himself.” Soderstrom didn’t mention having any problem with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee making the slaughter of dozens of people about himself.
Speaking of Trump, Soderstrom was also put out that a couple performers made Donald Trump jokes — apparently, that’s no longer permitted now that he’s the GOP nominee.
Only after that lengthy whining did Soderstrom find something positive to say about the show — and it was about conservative, heterosexual behavior: “Through tears of joy, Hamilton actress Renée Elise Goldsberry gave a passionate acceptance speech stressing the importance of family and thanking the Lord for giving her two children.”
Finally, in the 21st paragraph of his post, Soderstrom gets around to noting arguably the one thing the awards show will be remembered for besides all those awards for “Hamilton”: its reaction to the Orlando massacre. Soderstrom mostly stuck with stating what various performers did, adding the backhanded complement that “the hosts resisted the urge to turn the Tony Awards into a three-hour, anti-gun PSA, and kept their focus on the victims.”
Soderstrom closed by oddly inserting himself into the issue despite criticizing Obama for doing something similar earlier in his post: “I, for one, hope we emerge from this tragedy stronger and more committed to the principles that make America such a uniquely great country.” It’s a nice sentiment, but we’ll see how that flies at an organization that normally denigrates the people who were the victims of this massacre.