Whoopi skewers mudslinging in Oscar monologue

4.00pm

LOS ANGELES - Shouting, "Come and get me boys!" as she descended to the Oscars stage on a trapeze in top hat and feathers, actress-comedian Whoopi Goldberg returned in zany style to the awards show she last hosted three years ago.

Although her introduction was a takeoff on best picture candidate Moulin Rouge and Nicole Kidman, Goldberg quickly turned her humour to the nasty whispering campaign recently waged against another nominee for best film, A Beautiful Mind.

"Can you believe this campaign? So much mud has been thrown this year, all the nominees look black," Goldberg joked, mixing references to the Beautiful Mind controversy and to the attention generated by the nomination of three African American stars for top acting awards.

In the weeks leading up to the 74th annual Academy Awards, the makers of A Beautiful Mind found themselves on the defensive against allegations that the schizophrenic mathematician portrayed in the film, John Nash, was an anti-Semite. The allegations, which were denied by Nash himself, were widely seen as having been spread by people in Hollywood associated with rival films.

"I tell you, this negative campaigning has got to stop. I got an e-mail today that said Frodo Baggins was an anti-Semite," she said, referring to a hobbit character in the epic fantasy Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Goldberg made her grand entrance on a trapeze lowered from the rafters of the new Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, dressed in a top hat and burlesque costume, repeating Kidman's catch phrase from Moulin Rouge -- "Come and get me, boys" -- before declaring, "Good evening, darlings. I am the original sexy beast".

It was Goldberg's first turn at being Oscar's host since 1999, when her sometimes ribald performance as MC and outrageous costume changes garnered mixed reviews.

Her return on Sunday night, following Oscar telecasts hosted by Billy Crystal and Steve Martin, respectively, was less risque than three years ago, but it was not without sexual innuendo.

"Oscar is the only 74-year-old man in Hollywood who doesn't need Viagra to last three hours," she joked.

She even joked about America moving on from the tragedy of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, and heightened security at the awards show in the aftermath of that tragedy.

"This has been a hell of a year, America has suffered through a great national tragedy. But we have recovered -- Mariah Carey already has made another movie," she joked, alluding to the pop diva's first film, a box office flop.

"Some things have changed," she added. "Security here tonight is tighter than some of the faces."

She also poked fun at some of the nominees, warning the audience at one point, "This show is going to be long, but not as as long as it took to explain Mulholland Drive", the mysterious drama for which David Lynch was nominated as best director.

Dressing in a maid's costume to introduce best-picture nominee Gosford Park, Robert Altman's ensemble satire on the British class system, Goldberg said the film was "a movie about 15 maids, butlers and clerks, and not one of them is black".

- REUTERS

Oscar nominees and winners (full list)

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