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Trump Complains South Korea’s ‘Parasite’ Won Best Picture Oscar: ‘Was It Good?’

"I thought it was best foreign film," the U.S. president said of the film that won the Academy's top honor.

President Donald Trump complained during a rambling rally in Colorado Springs about the South Korean blockbuster “Parasite” winning the Academy Award for Best Picture earlier this month, saying he wished an English-language movie akin to “Gone with the Wind” had won instead.

“How bad were the Academy Awards this year?” Trump asked the crowd on Thursday. “‘And the winner is a movie from South Korea.’ What the hell was that all about?”

“We’ve got enough problems with South Korea with trade,” he continued. “On top of it, they give them the best movie of the year? Was it good? I don’t know.”

The president went on to say that when the Best Picture award went to “Parasite” — a history-making decision in which it became the first non-English-language movie to nab the honor — he thought it was merely for “best foreign film.” (“Parasite” did win the award for International Feature Film as well.)

“I’m looking for like … let’s get ‘Gone with the Wind,’ can we get ‘Gone with the Wind’ back, please?” Trump rambled, naming the 1939 epic that romanticizes slavery. “Sunset Boulevard. So many great movies. The winner from South Korea, I thought it was best foreign film. Best foreign movie. No… did this ever happen before?”

It hadn’t.

Director Bong Joon Ho’s film shattered expectations, nabbing four Oscars and bringing praise to South Korea’s long-overlooked film industry. Bong has been hailed as a hometown hero in Seoul.

Neon, the U.S. distributor of the film, responded to Trump’s comments with a terse statement of its own on Thursday.

“Understandable,” Neon wrote on Twitter, “he can’t read.”

Trump spent his time in Colorado touting his accomplishments in office, lambasting the recently concluded impeachment inquiry and reflecting on why he hasn’t earned more praise. He said he was disappointed not to have been made Time’s “Person of the Year” (the honor went to Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg), and said he and his supporters deserved the honor in perpetuity.

“When the world revolves around all of us, we should be chosen; there’s nothing wrong with it,” Trump told his supporters. “I mean, we’ve won it, but we should win it every single year.”

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.