The Golden Globes made its return to television this year after holding a “private” ceremony last year that everybody basically forgot about. NBC opted out of televising 2022’s ceremony due to the various controversies and boycotts of The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, many of which were because of valid reasons.
This year, after the HFPA restructured its whole organization, the ceremony was finally televised again, which meant we finally got another stand-up host who took no time to call out the HFPA within the first five minutes of the broadcast. That’s live television!
Host Jerrod Carmichael began the night by diving right in to address the controversy and claiming he was only asked to host because he is Black. “This show, the Golden Globe Awards, did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — which I won’t say were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died [in 2020]. So, do with that information what you will.” The comedian, who had his own HBO Max comedy special last year, then name-dropped HFPA president Helen Hoehne by saying he declined a meeting with her three times.
While the night was full of some laughs and a few timely gasps, HFPA is not happy with Carmichael’s comments. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hoehn was “shocked and upset” with the host’s jokes. Sources reported that Hoehn was seen being consoled in the bathroom after the monologue.
The HFPA Podcast Golden Globes Around The World also did not address the comments, beginning their post-Globes coverage by saying that they would not be talking about Carmichael at all. Host Jenny Cooney said, “We’re not going to talk about the host because everybody has their own opinion on the host. We’re just going to skip right on ahead to the rest of the show.”
Carmichael probably won’t be asked back as a host, but he did mention that he was paid upwards of $500,000 for the gig, so maybe he really just really wanted to make a little bit of money before burning some bridges, which seems to be his thing.
