This year’s Golden Globes occurred on January 10, 2023, at 8:00 pm EST. Although nothing extremely crazy happened, there were still multiple noteworthy moments from the night. Whether it was the overall controversy surrounding the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the organization that puts on the event), interesting speeches, or surprising award winners, the Golden Globes was just as entertaining as it promised. Without further ado, let’s break down the 80th Annual Golden Globes.
Controversy:
The Golden Globes has been pretty irrelevant and downright controversial in the past few years. In 2021, the award show was bicoastal, meaning it aired in New York and Los Angeles simultaneously. This led to many technical issues with tons of volume problems, weird cuts, and people constantly talking over each other. Even worse, in 2021, it was revealed that the organizers of the event, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), haven’t had a black member on their panel of 90 people in over 20 years. Not only that, but the LA Times published a piece in which they discussed how the HPFA would accept lavish gifts and meals from studios hoping to win nominations. For example, Paramount Network managed to get Emily in Paris two Golden Globe nominations by bringing 30 HPFA members to Paris for two nights at a $1,400 per night hotel. Even worse, in 2018, actor Brendan Fraser revealed he had been groped by Philip Berk, former president of HPFA, in 2003. Berk denied the claim, and the HPFA, after launching an internal investigation, decided that the incident was meant as a joke. In 2021, Berk was finally kicked out after calling Black Lives Matter a “racist hate movement.”
After all of this stuff went down in 2021, HPFA pledged to increase its diversity, make voting methods more transparent, and examine possible ethical violations. However, a couple of months later, most people still believed that there wasn’t enough action being taken. This caused Netflix, Amazon Studios, and some A-List celebrities to announce that they would be boycotting the 2022 Golden Globes. Tom Cruise even returned his three Golden Globes in protest. In the hopes of appeasing their audience, NBC (which streams the Golden Globes) decided not to air the 2022 Golden Globes and claimed that “a change of this magnitude takes time and work” and that the HFPA “needs time to do it right.”
This year, the HFPA sought to fix the problems by increasing their panel to 111 members and also inviting 103 additional non-member voters to select the awards. The voters are also much more diverse, with the HPFA providing these demographic statistics: 22.3% are Latinx, 13.6% are Black, 11.7% are Asian, 10.7% are Middle Eastern, and 41.7% are white, with 58.3% self-identifying as “ethnically diverse. In July 2021, the organization also instituted a no-gift policy and a hotline to report incidents, complaints, and allegations. Although all these changes haven’t fixed the inherent problems overnight, they’re still a very important step.
Interesting Speeches:
Although Brad Pitt won no awards this year, he was still one of the most shouted-out people in the crowd. During her acceptance speech, Quinta Brunson said, "Comedy is so important to me. Comedy brings people together. Comedy gives us all the same laugh... Hey, Brad Pitt.” She could also be heard saying, “he's right there!” During his speech, Austin Butler also thanked his former Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood co-star by saying, “so grateful right now I'm in this room full of my heroes. Brad, I love you." While presenting the award for best television actor in a drama series, Regina Hall said, “Sorry about this. Umm, I think they got my — I think they got my name wrong. Yeah, it's Mrs. Pitt. Brad is right here, so I'm so sorry, honey."
For the first time in her forty-year career, Michelle Yeoh won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy Motion Picture. In her acceptance speech, she discussed her struggles as a minority and the challenges of aging in the industry. Before she could finish thanking everyone, the wrap-up piano music began to play. Instead of ending her speech as the music told her, Yeoh said, “Shut up, please. I can beat you up, okay? And that's serious.” The piano music immediately stopped, and she concluded her speech by saying, “And this is for all the shoulders that I stand on, all who came before me who looks like me, and all who are going on this journey with me forward.”
Like Michelle Yeoh, Jennifer Coolidge won her first Golden Globe this year. When accepting the award, she thanked Mike White, the creator of The White Lotus. “I had these giant ideas. And then you get older and, oh, sh*t’s going to happen. And, Mike White, you have given me hope. You’ve given me a new beginning. Even if this is the end, because you did kill me off. But even if this is the end, you changed my life in a million different ways.” She also mentioned Ryan Murphy, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Patrick King, and Paul and Chris Weitz, who she credited with keeping her career afloat for the past 20 years. On a more lighthearted note, when presenting the Best TV Series Supporting Actor award, Coolidge accidentally said, “So, the Oscar goes to…”
There were more funny one-liners from the night. When being honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award, Eddie Murphy shared his blueprint for success in the industry, saying, “It's very simple, just do these three things: Pay your taxes, mind your business — and keep Will Smith's wife's name out your f---ing mouth!" During Mike White's speech accepting the Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film award, he joked, "I was going to give this speech in Italian, but we're too drunk because there was no food."
The host of the night, Jerrod Carmichael, made multiple controversial quips during the night. In his opening monologue, he called out the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's previous lack of diversity by saying, “I won’t say they were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died. Do with that what you will.” He also made a dig at Tom Cruise, who is a devoted follower of Scientology. “Hey guys. Backstage I found these three Golden Globe awards that Tom Cruise returned. Look, I’m just the host briefly or whatever, but I have a pitch. I think maybe we take these three things and exchange them for the safe return of Shelly Miscavige.” Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige (who is a friend of Tom Cruise), hasn’t been seen since 2007. Another joke he made about Whitney Houston’s death, "So, we are here, live, from the hotel that killed Whitney Houston, the Beverly Hilton," received immense online backlash saying Carmichael “crossed a line” and made a “tasteless and disrespectful joke.”
Award Winners:
The Golden Globes has 27 different categories of awards; 14 in motion pictures and 13 in television. The winners of the biggest awards are listed down below.
Best Picture-Drama:
The Fabelmans directed by Steven Spielberg
Best Picture- Musical/Comedy:
The Banshees of Inisherin directed and written by Martin McDonagh
Best Actress- Motion Picture- Drama:
Cate Blanchett in Tar
Best Actor- Motion Picture- Drama:
Austin Butler in Elvis
Best Actress- Motion Picture- Musical/Comedy:
Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Actor- Motion Picture- Musical/Comedy:
Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Supporting Actress- Motion Picture:
Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Best Supporting Actor- Motion Picture:
Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Director- Motion Picture:
Steven Spielberg in The Fabelmans
Best Picture- Animated:
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Best Picture - Non-English Language:
Argentina, 1985
Best Drama Series:
House of Dragon
Best Musical/Comedy Series:
Abbott Elementary
Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture:
The White Lotus
Best Actress - Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture:
Amanda Seyfried in The Dropout
Best Actor- Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture:
Evan Peters in Dahmer-Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
Best Television Actress - Drama Series:
Zendaya in Euphoria
Best Television Actor- Drama Series:
Kevin Costner in Yellowstone
Best Television Actress - Musical/Comedy Series:
Quinta Brunson in Abbott Elementary
Best Television Actor- Musical/Comedy Series:
Jeremy Allen White in The Bear
Best Supporting Actress - Television Limited Series/Motion Picture:
Jennifer Coolidge in The White Lotus
Best Supporting Actor- Television Limited Series/Motion Picture:
Paul Walter Hauser in Black Bird
Best Supporting Actress - Television Series:
Julia Garner in Ozark
Best Supporting Actor- Television Series:
Tyler James Williams in Abbott Elementary
Those are all of the biggest moments from the 2023 Golden Globes. Hopefully, next year will be even better and much less controversial.
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