Comedian Jerrod Carmichael’s opening monologue at the Golden Globes made members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association “uncomfortable” and sucked the “fun” out of the Golden Globes by spotlighting the show’s complicated history with minorities and recent controversies that resulted in the show not airing last year.
He half-joked about his own role as the show’s host as a comedian chosen because of his race to become “the black face of an embattled white organization.”
“It was so awkward and uncomfortable,” a source told The Hollywood Reporter.
“The show has to be fun, and it didn’t feel funny,” said another, due to the tone and subject matter of Carmichael’s monologue.
Comedian Jerrod Carmichael delivered a sometimes uncomfortable monologue about the Golden Globes’ recent diversity scandal and how he was chosen to perform because of his race
He added that he was asked several times to meet with HFPA President Helen Hoehne after accepting the gig, which he also joked about being paid a whopping $500,000 for it.
Carmichael said he thought meeting Hoehne was a “trap.”
The Hollywood Reporter noted that Hoehne was surprised and “shaken” that his name was checked so prominently at the top of the show, and that he had to be comforted in the ballroom bar.
A source with ties to the HFPA told she has denied reports that she was “excited” or “consoled in the bar”.
“Those who were actually with Hoehne during the monologue, seated at her table, deny any absurd claim that she was emotional about what was being said on stage,” the source said.
Another source told the Hollywood Reporter that the entire incident was fabricated and that it’s “disappointing and confusing that people would take this approach to trying to hurt Helen.”
“It doesn’t accurately reflect the resilient, positive and effective leader that she is.”
Last Tuesday night, Carmichael opened the 80th annual Golden Globes by telling the audience he was only invited to host “because I’m black.”
“That show, the Golden Globe Awards, didn’t air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – which I won’t say – was a racist organization but didn’t have a single black member until the death of George Floyd [in 2020]. So do what you like with this information,’ he said.
Helen Hoehne, President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, last Tuesday night at the 80th annual Golden Globes ceremony and the first to air since 2021
“That show, the Golden Globe Awards, didn’t air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association … didn’t have a single black member until the death of George Floyd [in 2020]. So do what you will with this information,” Carmichael said during his monologue
The Globes’ demise came slowly, and then all at once, when the show was blown up last year amid allegations of sexual misconduct under her leadership and allegations of an endemic culture of gifts for gongs.
In 2018, actor Brendan Fraser spoke out to allege that former HFPA President Philip Berk, 88, assaulted him at an HFPA luncheon in 2003 by grabbing his buttocks. Berk called the story “a total fabrication.”
In 2019, the nonprofit organization was criticized for failing to nominate female directors for awards, despite the critical and box-office success of Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women.
In 2020, a Norwegian journalist sued the HFPA over a “culture of corruption” in which members accepted “thousands of dollars in emoluments” from the same studios they lent gongs to. A federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that plaintiff Kjersti Flaa did not receive damages.
Last year, the LA Times revealed that none of the HFPA’s 87 members were black, prompting them to recruit 21 new members. According to Globes, six of the new recruits are black, ten women, six Latinx, five Asian, and four from the Middle East or North Africa.
Berk was back in the spotlight again in April, being kicked out of the organization for allegedly calling Black Lives Matter a “racist hate movement” in an email.
However, the Globes’ new take on political correctness may not work in favor of the awards show.
What used to be considered the industry’s most entertaining night of awards season drew a meager 5.3 million viewers – a 23 percent drop from 2021 viewership.