The 77th Golden Globes kicked off the 2020 awards season with its annual show and arguably, the biggest moment of the night was comedian Ricky Gervais’ eight minute monologue.
He tore the crowd up with hard-hitting, candid talk about the silliness of the award show and the monotone and boring culture of Hollywood. This would be the fifth time that Gervais has hosted the show. On the premise that this would be his last time hosting, he didn’t hold his tongue.
“Well, you say you’re woke, but the companies you work for, I mean, unbelievable — Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service, you’d call your agent wouldn’t ya? So, if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So, if you win, right, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god, and f**k off.”
Many of the celebrities in the audience clapped and hollered as if they enjoyed the abusive language toward them. Gervais, who is known to be brutally honest, made it a point to bring up Kevin Hart being “fired” from the Oscars because of offensive tweets, but ironically, the Golden Globes hired him to host their show. A good point.
He joked about Felicity Huffman’s college admission scandal. Then, he switched to the pedophile scandals that were documented in films Leaving Neverland and Surviving R. Kelly. He put Hollywood in an even hotter seat, calling out the innumerable “lazy” remakes, retellings, and sequels that saturated the film release slate in 2019.
He made light of the fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, who votes for the winners of the Golden Globes, were too racist to diversify their nominees.
“Many talented people of color were snubbed in major categories,” Gervais joked. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that. The Hollywood Foreign Press are all very, very racist. So…fifth time.”
The crowd responded in an uproar of laughter. Everything seemed to be a laughing matter. Sitting in the audience were some of the A-list celebrities, such as Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Martin Scorsese, Adam Driver, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Ellen DeGeneres, Quentin Tarantino, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, to name a few.
Watch Ricky Gervais’ 2020 Golden Globe Monologue HERE
Some would say the monologue was “hilarious”, but when you evaluate all the negative topics that Gervais covered, it’s quite pathetic how such a small group of people could amass so much garbage in one year. It’s even more disheartening that bad news is the news. At least he spared the audience jokes about 45.
As far as the winners, The Irishman and Joker lost to Sam Mendes’ 1917 in the category of Best Motion Picture, Drama. Dolemite Is My Name and Rocketman lost to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.
Joaquin Phoenix did pick up the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama for his role in Joker.
The Farewell’s Awkwafina won for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.
Brad Pitt’s role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood won him the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture, beating out the likes of Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino. The film also won Best Screenplay, Motion Picture.
Some of the nights snubs were The Irishman, The Lion King, and Dolemite Is My Name.
For the most part, Gervais was right. The Golden Globes were not as diverse as expected.
Some notable winners of the night are below:
Ramy Youssef, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical
Brian Cox, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Olivia Colman, Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Stellan Skarsgård, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Patricia Arquette, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Russell Crowe, Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Michelle Williams, Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Renée Zellweger, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Taron Egerton, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Laura Dern, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture
Parasite, Best Foreign-Language Film
Hildur Gudnadóttir, Best Original Score – Motion Picture
“I’m Gonna Love Me Again”, Best Original Song – Motion Picture
Missing Link, Best Animated Feature Film
Succession, Best Television Series – Drama
Fleabag, Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical
Chernobyl, Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
