The 2024 Golden Globes are fast-approaching.
While it would appear no event on the awards season calendar could ever eclipse the disaster that was the 2017 Oscars and that Moonlight-versus-La-La-Land bungle, a little part of us as journalists and spectators still pray. Traditionally speaking, the Golden Globes – with its open bar and social dinner setting – has always been the rowdier, fancy-free sister to the pompous Academy Awards; a night where the biggest names in film and television can unpin their hairsprayed-stiff top knots and dance into the evening at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.
Yes, come January 7, chances are we’re in for a treat. With this in mind, let’s revisit some of the most scandalous Golden Globes moments from previous years, because where there’s smoke (read: unlimited alcohol), there’s always a little bit of (movie star-grade) fire.
Seth Meyers Calls Out Kevin Spacey
A couple of months after director Ridley Scott spectacularly replaced the disgraced Kevin Spacey with the late Christopher Plummer in All The Money In The World, Golden Globes host Seth Meyers had his first victim. Well, next to Harvey Weinstein of course. “Good evening ladies and remaining gentlemen,” Meyers began his 2018 opening monologue. “It’s 2018 and marijuana is finally allowed and sexual harassment finally isn’t,” he began. “They’re going to do another season of House of Cards. Is Christopher Plummer available for that, too? I hope he can do a Southern accent because Kevin Spacey sure couldn’t.”
Actresses Wear Black In Protest
The celebrity soapbox (read: the acceptance speech) is always at its most vocal come Awards Season. But in the wake of the atrocious behaviour of Harvey Weinstein – a film mogul who had worked with decades of Globe attendees – female actresses wore black to the 2018 awards to protest against sexual harassment. In doing so, they raised awareness for the Time’s Up initiative, a historical movement which sort to fight against sexual misconduct in Hollywood and beyond. It was supported by the Me Too movement which encouraged victims to share their stories.
Oprah Gives The Speech Of The Century
That same year, addressing a sea of black dresses, Oprah Winfrey received the Cecil B. de Millie Award and with it came one hell of an address. “I want all the girls watching here to know that a new day is on the horizon,” said Winfrey. “And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women – many of whom are in this room tonight – and some pretty phenomenal men fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders that take us to time where nobody ever has to say ‘Me Too’ again.” Watch the moment below.
The Golden Globes Are Cancelled
The Hollywood Foreign Press was forced to cancel the Golden Globes after members of the Screen Actors Guild (the union by which most actors are represented) threatened to boycott the event during the Writers Guild strike of 2008. The protests were so powerful that the award organisers were concerned there would be an empty red carpet and held a press conference announcing the winners instead.
Renee Zellweger Went To The Bathroom And Missed Her Award
It was 2001 and a delightfully bumbling Hugh Grant announced his future Bridget Jones co-star, Renee Zellweger, had won the Best Actress Golden Globe for her film Nurse Betty. But Zellweger was nowhere to be seen, leaving Grant to awkwardly ask, “Is she under the table? Where is she? What do we do?” As he began to accept the award on her behalf, a flustered Zellweger arrived on the stage explaining she was in the bathroom because she had lipstick on her teeth. Bless.
Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler Take On Leonardo DiCaprio
“Like a supermodel’s vagina, let’s all give a warm welcome to Leonardo DiCaprio,” says Tiny Fey to a shocked auditorium in 2014. The pair also had a go at George Clooney. “Gravity is nominated for Best Film. It’s the story of how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age.” Eek.
Ricky Gervais’s Opening Monologue Falls Flat. And It’s Awkward
After hosting the Golden Globes in 2010, the British comedian was asked to come back the following year. Watching the footage below, it would appear even Gervais knew after the first few gags that things weren’t going well. And they kind of got worse as he went after Johnny Depp, Charlie Sheen, Angelina Jolie and a famous Scientologist.
