I’m glad I live on the West Coast now, so that I don’t have to stay up late to watch the Academy Awards anymore — especially when it’s a rather dull telecast, as it was this year.

There has been some interesting faith-related news from the event and its aftermath, however, starting with Oscar winner Natalie Portman (aka Hershlag), who is also famous as the current face of Dior, announced that “as an individual who is proud to be Jewish,” she will no longer be associated with the label due to designer John Galliano’s “I Love Hitler” rant.

(What IS it with drunkenness and anti-Semitism? Were Galliano, Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen always this anti-Semitic and hiding it well, or is it mostly the booze/drugs doing the slurring slurring?)

Portman, an Israeli-American who blew me away when she played Anne Frank on Broadway, may does not have to pull out of her Dior campaign, however — Galliano is about to be has been fired.

As for other news, here’s a round-up:

• Jewish Talent Shines at 2011 Academy Awards (JTA)
• Oscar Success for “King’s Speech” Could Signal Change for Filmmaking, Says Vatican Newspaper (Catholic News Agency)
• And the Oscar Goes To… (Religion & Ethics Newsweekly)

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