Relaunched Golden Globes ceremony throws quieter Hollywood party

The Golden Globes mixed partying with sobriety at its 81st edition on Sunday (Jan 7), in a ceremony that seemed designed to rehabilitate the once-buzzy awards with Hollywood and a global TV audience.  

Big stars were out in glittering force for the event, the first since the Golden Globes became a for-profit enterprise under entertainment publisher Jay Penske, whose Dick Clark Productions acquired the operation with Eldridge Industries last summer. The takeover came two years after the Los Angeles Times revealed financial and ethical practices and a lack of diversity at the Globes’ original organiser, the now-dissolved Hollywood Foreign Press Association. 

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Staged at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles and aired by the CBS broadcast network and its sister streaming service Paramount+, the revamped Globes were hosted by comedian and actor Jo Koy. 

In contrast to former Globes host Ricky Gervais, Koy made only gentle fun of nominated projects and stars in attendance at the ceremony, pointing the presence of Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Taylor Swift and other big names. (Ironically, Gervais was named winner of the best stand-up comedy Globe, which was added to the Globe roster this year along with the prize for “cinematic and box office achievement.”)

Presenters included Oprah Winfrey, Angela Bassett, Florence Pugh, Issa Rae, Michelle Yeoh, Will Ferrell and Oprah Winfrey. Also picked up by the TV cameras were the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, Bruce Springsteen and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

The only direct reference to the controveries that have plagued the Globes organisation in recent years came from Robert Downey Jr, winner of the night’s best supporting actor prize (for Oppenheimer). Downey thanked Golden Globe voters - now a relatively diverse group of 300 journalists from 75 countries - ”for changing your game.”

Like Globe events of the past, the ceremony had its attendees seated at tables around a ballroom and schmoozing freely during advertising breaks. And according to presenter Mark Hamill, the event was still the only awards bash ”with an open bar.” 

In other ways, though, this year’s Globes felt more like the Oscars, with glamourous presenting duos sometimes struggling to make weak scripted comedy moments seem spontaneous. 

Though the event was the first major awards show since last year’s Hollywood strikes were finally settled there was almost no mention of the sometimes bitter labour disputes. 

The efforts to diversify made by the Globes and the industry itself were evidenced by the choice of host and presenters. And the push was exemplified by the night’s most emotional acceptance speech, when best female drama actor (forKillers Of The Flower Moon) Lily Gladstone spoke briefly in the language of the Blackfeet Nation in which she was raised and said her award was for “every little Rez kid who has a dream.” 

“This award is a historic one,” added Gladstone. “I’m so grateful I can speak even a little bit of my language, because in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English, and then their sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera.” 

As in previous years, Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell teamed up to hilarious effect as a presenting duo, this time handing out the lead actor in a musical or comedy Globe. “They should host next year” was the consensus on X (formerly Twitter).

Paul Giamatti gave one of the more charming speeches on the night. Collecting his award for The Holdovers, he joked about climbing the stage: “Too many stairs… my knees are shot! I’m never going to be in John Wick 5 at this rate.”