Last year’s Golden Globes brought us Donald Glover’s unexpected shout-outto the Migos, the #HiddenFences flub, and four stand-out acceptance speeches from black actors.
This year, in addition to the usual deserving wins and upsetting snubs, stars wore black to show solidarity with both the #MeToo movement and #TimesUp campaign, the latter of which began a legal defense fund for victims of sex harassment in workplace.
Here’s what you may have missed.
Oprah’s inspiring, emotional speech
Oprah Winfrey became the first Black woman to receive the Golden Globe’s Cecil B. DeMille Award and did not disappoint while giving her acceptance speech.
She first recalled Sidney Poitier winning the same award back in 1982 and noted the magnitude of her own achievement: “It is not lost on me that at this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this same award.”
Oprah thanked the press and encouraged truth: “I want to say that I value the press more than ever before as we try to navigate these complicated times, which brings me to this: what I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.”
She told the story of civil rights hero Recy Taylor who was was abducted and raped by 6 white men in 1944: “She lived as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men. For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dare speak the truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up. Their time is up.”
And, finally, she closed with a hopeful message: “So I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say ‘Me too’ again.” Read the full transcript here.
Sterling K. Brown making history
Sterling K. Brown, of This Is Is, became the first Black actor—in the ceremony’s 75-year history!—to win the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series (Drama). He was also the only Black actor nominated in the category this year. During his speech, he said, “[Dan Fogelman] wrote a role for Black man, like that could only be played by a Black man. And so, what I appreciate so much about this thing is that I’m being seen for who I am and being appreciated for who I am. And it makes it that much more difficult to dismiss me or dismiss anybody who looks like me.”
Millie Bobby Brown bringing Drake as her +1
Eleven x 6 God. ‘Nuff said.
James Franco beating out Daniel Kaluuya
Sure, Get Out was nominated for Best Motion Picture, but it had to compete as a comedy. And as if that wasn’t insulting enough, its lead actor, Daniel Kaluuya, lost to James Franco, of The Disaster Artist, for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.
Naturally, Twitter was disappointed and expressed itself aptly.
The icing on the cake, however, was Franco then making one of the most tone-deaf moments of the night when he pushed actor Tommy Wiseau (who Franco played in the winning film!) away from the mic.
Natalie Portman calling out the male-only director nominees
Back in 2014, Ava DuVernay became the first black female director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award. This year, however, the ceremony went back to a male-only lineup with Guillermo Del Toro for The Shape of Water; Martin McDonagh for The Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk; Ridley Scott for All the Money In The World; and Steven Spielberg for The Post.
The list wasn’t lost on actress Natalie Portman who, while presenting the category, went off-script and said: “And here are the all-male nominees.”
The award then went to Del Toro who the powers-that-be tried to cut off during his acceptance speech. He had the proper clapback though: “Lower the music, guys. It’s taken 25 years. Give me a minute.”
Aziz Ansari making history
Ansari, co-creator and star of Netflix’s Master Of None, became the first Asian-American actor to win for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy (Master of None).
Debra Messing calling out E!…while talking to E!
Last month, after 12 years, E! News‘ co-host Catt Sadler left her position upon learning that her male counterpart Jason Kennedy was making “double” her salary. So, while on the red carpet, Debra Messing (of Will & Grace fame) took the network to task while being interviewed by them: “I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their gemale co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts. I miss Catt Sadler. And we stand with her.”
E! literally minimizing #MeToo creator Tarana Burke
Nominated actress Michelle Williams brought activist and #MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke as her guest, but you wouldn’t have known it based on E!’s red carpet coverage. While being interviewed by Ryan Seacrest, Burke was quite literally reduced to a picture-in-picture frame so viewers could, instead, get a better view of the dress of actress Dakota Johnson (from, you know, the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy).
So here’s the message Burke was trying to get across: “This is something that I started out of necessity and something that I thought my community needed. And it’s grown over the years, but I never could’ve envisioned it growing like this. But this moment is so powerful: we’re seeing a collision of these two worlds, a collaboration between this two worlds that people don’t usually put together and would most likely have us pinned against each other.”
Host Seth Meyers taking a jab at Harvey Weinstein
Following the immeasurable number of sexual allegations currently against major film producer Harvey Weinstein—many of which have come from actresses in Hollywood—he made sure not to appear at the Golden Globes. But jokes were certainly made at his expense, namely host Seth Meyers predicting that, 20 years from now, once dead, Weinstein will likely become “the first person ever booed during the in memoriam.”