The Golden Globes 2023 : Their Highs, Lows And Enigmas

And the 80th Golden Globe Awards wins the prize for the most difficult return. Nearly two years have passed since a shocking Los Angeles Times article that exposed ethical failings and a lack of diversity within the Hollywood Foreign Press Association—the group that organizes the ceremony—helped to force the show’s cancellation from the television. The telecast this year was intended to indicate both a return to routine and positive change at the HFPA to the industry. While some of those changes were reflected in the diversity of the winners, including Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams from Abbott Elementary, Black Panther queen Angela Bassett, and Everything Everywhere All at Once powerhouses Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, as well as the caliber of the speeches, the Globes’ future is still uncertain due to some high-profile no-shows and dubious creative choices. The carefully followed telecast’s highlights, lowlights, and brainteasers are listed here.

HIGH: The celebrities gave their best effort during the acceptance speeches

It turns out that Quan, Jennifer Coolidge, and Yeoh are not just excellent actresses but also excellent prize presenters. The speeches by these three and Ryan Murphy, who received the honorary Carol Burnett Award, were the most heartfelt and memorable of the evening. They gave personal accounts of their achievements. They all gave us the impression that the Globes actually mattered, whether it was Quan praising his first director, Steven Spielberg, Yeoh discussing her difficulties in Hollywood, or Murphy turning the spotlight away from himself and onto his many partners. And that was excellent acting.

LOW : But a number of significant winners were MIA

No-shows were pretty much to be expected. We were shocked by how much Hollywood attended the 2023 Golden Globes considering that the 2022 ceremony had been cancelled. However, the absence of a few award winners demonstrated that the Globes haven’t returned yet. Four prominent winners missed the opportunity to pick up their prizes. Presenters claimed that Cate Blanchett for Tár, Zendaya for Euphoria, and Amanda Seyfried for The Dropout were all “in production” or “working” at the time. But here’s the thing: It would be a very, very safe bet that the trio might have requested a day off in the past as successful performers are almost never off the clock. The Yellowstone Award recipient Kevin Costner had the most convincing justification, according to presenter Regina Hall, who said that he was detained in Santa Barbara this week due to severe rainstorms and mudslides in Southern California. His spokesperson also guaranteed to us backstage that it was true. I’ll pay for that one.

HIGH: Jack Nicholson’s replacement is Brad Pitt

Once upon a time in Hollywood, Jack Nicholson ruled the Academy Awards, serving as the event’s life and soul. At this year’s Golden Globes, Brad Pitt fulfilled his role by getting the audience laughing during Jerrod Carmichael’s awkward opening address and cheering loudly for all the winners. Pitt behaved like a winner even though he lost his Golden Globe to Quan, who won the award for Best Supporting Actor, which Pitt was also nominated for.

HIGH: Eddie Murphy rediscovered his sense of humor

The Saturday Night Live legend generally maintained a straight face while accepting the extremely serious Cecil B. DeMille Award. But it turns out he was storing a haymaker of a punchline for the very end of his speech, which is why. Keep the name of Will Smith’s wife out of your f***ing lips, Murphy concluded after listing the three lessons he’s learnt from his time in Hollywood. He is Eddie Murphy because of this, dammit.

LOW: Don’t harm the pianist

When Chloe Flower was selected to serve as the official Globes pianist, she earned the best/worst job imaginable. On the one hand, she enjoyed the opportunity to sing for a star-studded crowd. She could not have foreseen, however, that the same celebrities would threaten to assault her for interfering with their speeches. Of course, none of that was Flower’s fault, but the insults undoubtedly had an impact. She left the stage in the middle of the performance, and a DJ took her place. When she came back, Carmichael made a point of thanking her for her service and highlighting the “abuse” she had received on Twitter. Let’s hope her tip jar was bursting at the seams.

LOW : THE GLOBES CLOUD IS STILL EXISTING

Nearly everyone in the room made an effort to continue acting as though the evening’s awards ceremony was business as usual as Carmichael launched shots at the HFPA. On social media, however, several commenters remarked on how odd it seemed to be praising a program and an organization with such a murky past. At the conclusion of the program, current HFPA President Helen Hoehne stood on stage and made a few quick statements regarding the organization’s efforts to improve. But before the party resumes in earnest, there is obviously still a lot of work to be done.

Austin Butler’s voice has left the building, enigmatic

Even though Austin Butler finished filming Elvis more than a year ago, it’s obvious that Presley’s ghost hasn’t left him. The actor raised eyebrows when he accepted his Best Actor in a Drama trophy by speaking like the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll rather than the Kid from Anaheim, California. Butler informed reporters backstage that he wasn’t aware he was speaking in an Elvis impersonation. Sounds suspicious to us (minds).

HIGH and LOW: For the most part, host Jerrod Carmichael kept the crowd engaged

Jerrod Carmichael made a few humorous barbs at the absent Tom Cruise and Will Smith, as any good host would do. There were some significant misses, though. If Kanye West had been present, he would have noticed the awkward exchange when Carmichael said he and West had watched The Fabelmans together and told Spielberg that the director’s autobiographical film “changed everything” for the troubled rapper, who has been criticized for making repeated antisemitic remarks. The comedian even made fun of the awards event he was presenting while he was hosting it by bringing up the recent scandals surrounding the Golden Globes. This didn’t sit well with Twitter users. In his worst gaffe, Carmichael tried to make a joke about Whitney Houston passing away in the very hotel where the Globes were held. As a result, some audience members gasped. Social media users said that they, too, were gasping.

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