Before Hollywood stars had a chance to accept awards at the Golden Globes, they were chastised for hypocrisy and admonished to stay away from politics.
In his opening monologue at the award ceremony on Sunday, comedian Ricky Gervais pointed out that the stars have worked for companies that have a less than stellar record on how they treat their workers and urged them to avoid talking about politics.
“Apple rolled into the TV game with ‘The Morning Show,’ a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing. Made by a company that runs sweat-shops in China. So, 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 you?”
See his comments below:
He also strongly suggested that the award winners simply accept their “little award” and then “f***k off,” because, “You know nothing about the real world.”
“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: Come up, accept you’re little award, thank your agent and your god and f***k off.”
Noting the lack of diversity among the nominees, Gervais blasted the Hollywood Foreign Press.
“Many talented people of color were snubbed in major categories,” he said. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that — the Hollywood Foreign Press are all very, very racist.”
No one was spared from his commentary, on top of tackling working conditions and allegations of racism, he accused the whole industry of lacking originality, “But seriously, most films are awful, lazy, remakes, sequels.”
Additionally, Gervais did not shy away from the controversial topic of sexual harassment by people in powerful positions.
“In this room are some of the most important TV and film executives in the world. People from every background, but they all have one thing in common: They’re terrified of Ronan Farrow. He’s coming for you.”
Farrow’s reporting helped bring to light allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein — who is facing a criminal trial for his alleged misconduct.
When some attendees expressed their discomfort at Gervais’ comments, he responded: “Shut up, I don’t care.”