Hollywood’s biggest night of the year turned into one of the smallest as viewers refused to watch a conga line of virtue-signaling celebrities preen about politics.

According to the Los Angeles Times, fewer people watched the Oscars in 2018 than any other year:

The audience for ABC’s Sunday annual telecast of the Oscars declined for a fourth consecutive year, according to Nielsen data, dropping to an all-time low of 26.5 million viewers. The dip of nearly 20% from last year put it under the previous low of 32 million in 2008.

Yet, after the exploitative and propaganda-laced CNN town hall addressing the Parkland shooting and companies turning on the NRA, “membership in the NRA and gun rights groups across the country, which includes more than five million Americans, is spiking.” As reported by Time:

Two people familiar with the workings of the NRA, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss membership numbers, said that since the shooting the NRA has also seen more people than usual join, renew memberships or donate money as President Donald Trump and other Republican Party leaders have signaled an openness to gun control policies that are anathema to the powerful group.

Other gun rights’ organizations have also reported spikes in interest and membership:

“As soon as anti-gun attacks started coming in on Twitter, Facebook, and in the media, we began to hear from people who didn’t even own guns who wanted to join up or contribute out of solidarity in defense of the Second Amendment to the Constitution,” said Patrick Parsons, who heads the Georgia Gun Owners, an independent gun rights organization in Georgia. Parsons said the group’s membership, which he estimated at 13,000, had increased by 1,000 over the past two weeks. … Dudley Brown, the president of the National Association for Gun Rights, estimated his organization — which claims more than 4.5 million “members and supporters” on its website — estimated online membership applications at his organization could have grown by 30% over the last week, a number he expected to rise after Trump this week called for comprehensive gun reform legislation, including raising the age limit for buying certain weapons to 21.

So, we have people flocking to gun rights organizations and running from Hollywood. Why do you think that is? Hollywood doesn’t want to face the reality that it’s because people are fed up with condescension from celebrities who don’t value Americans’ civil rights.

Instead, they blame the decline in viewership on streaming online video, lack of blockbuster movies being nominated, too many nominees in each category, and Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet — yes, that’s a real reason cited in the Los Angeles Times article:

Red carpet host Ryan Seacrest, who is battling allegations that he sexually harassed and assaulted a stylist who worked for him, was unable to get cooperation from most of the big-name nominees during his annual pre-Oscars program on E! — in effect damping the viewer enthusiasm for the ceremony.

The Oscars isn’t the only program being ditched by the American people. “The Grammy Awards on CBS were down 24% this year to 19.8 million viewers — the lowest audience level in nine years, while NBC’s telecast of Super Bowl LII was off 7% to 103.4 million viewers, the lowest total since 2009.”

What do all of these events have in common? They’ve turned political.

Sports and entertainment are a value to the civil society because, unlike anything else in our culture, they bring people together — or they’re supposed to. They’re where diversity finds unity in a world rocked by hostility and division.

But thanks to egocentric celebrities who prefer to be social justice warriors attacking their own country and fellow citizens rather than providing what America really needs — their talent and not their politics — they have lost viewers and fans. Not only have they betrayed the American people with their progressive, socialistic politics, they’ve betrayed their craft and the unifying power that comes with it.

Hollywood remains hopeful though. As the L.A. Times reports: “Even with the decline in ratings, the Oscars remain special because the telecast is watched live and viewers sit through the commercials.”

“If I’m buying an ad on the Oscars, there is a very good chance the viewer is going to see the ad,” said media consultant and former network executive Preston Beckman. “That increases the value of it.”

Well, thank God for capitalism.