The Academy Awards used to be a big deal. The show is more a joke these days than a big deal, with the puffed-up Hollywood airheads strutting the carpet, absorbed in their own self-importance.

Last night’s affair, which I didn’t watch, was very much a Bashtrumpfest from what I have heard and read, but that isn’t the reason I didn’t watch the Oscars. I didn’t watch because phonies disgust me.

And the boycott was a yuge success! Nielsen ratings for the 2017 Academy Awards were the lowest in the past 9 years and the third-lowest in the past 43 years.

According to Reuters, ABC’s Sunday night broadcast of the 89th Academy Awards drew a 22.4 overnight rating, down 4 percent from last year’s low-rated show, according to Nielsen data released by the Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) unit.

The 2016 Oscars show drew 34.4 million and was the third-lowest rated since 1974.