Television and film lovers everywhere embrace the Golden Globe Awards to see who in Hollywood will take home the night’s biggest prizes. After returning from an awkward ceremony last year hosted by Jerrod Carmichael, last Sunday was a night of many ups and downs.
Here is an overview of what happened at the 81st Golden Globe Awards:
Host Jo Koy’s jokes didn’t seem to hit well with the audience
With just weeks to prepare for his hosting duties, comedian Jo Koy took on The Beverly Hilton stage in California with an array of controversial and tasteless jokes. Many critics were stunned to see Koy make sexist jokes about some of Hollywood’s biggest female box office hits, such as Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” as well as about members of the audience.
For example, his joke about Taylor Swift and her relationship with football player Travis Kelce caused the audience to go mute as the singer gracefully sipped from her wine glass, proving Koy’s antics were clearly to mock and call out people in the audience for their notoriety and supposed reputation.
Overall, it seemed like Koy was not the best choice to host, as his jokes throughout the night put a damper on the ceremony, and took away from many accomplishments of diverse actors, directors and screenwriters in attendance.
Newcomers took home some of the night’s biggest awards
Luckily, many newcomers won in some of the night’s biggest categories. In the Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture category, Da’Vine Joy Randolph won for her role as lunch lady Mary Lamb in “The Holdovers,” marking her first win at the Golden Globe Awards.
Meanwhile, Lily Gladstone won her first Golden Globe for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama for her role as Mollie Burkhart in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Gladstone’s win was monumental, as she was the first Indigenous female actress to win the award.
Ali Wong also won for her role in Netflix’s “Beef” for Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television. Wong also made history as the first Asian American to win in the category.
“Oppenheimer” beat out most of its competition
To the surprise of some, Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and its cast swept most of the ceremony, winning Best Motion Picture - Drama. Cillian Murphy, who played J. Robert Oppenheimer, also won Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, beating out fellow stars like Bradley Cooper and Barry Keoghan. The film also won Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, which was awarded to Robert Downey Jr. for his role as Lewis Strauss.
Nolan himself won Best Director - Motion Picture and composer Ludwig Göransson won Best Original Score - Motion Picture.
Kieran Culkin’s hilarious acceptance speech
A fan-favorite for his role as Roman Roy in HBO’s “Succession,” Kieran Culkin deservedly won Best Actor in a Television Series - Drama last Sunday. In a state of shock as he went up to accept the award, the actor jokingly told the audience to stop cheering for him, all while wearing his classic smirk fans know and love.
His speech was short and sweet, but also full of humor, making it one of the more memorable moments of the night. From saying “Oh, nightmare” to admitting to burping on stage and, of course, playfully calling out fellow nominee Pedro Pascal (i.e “Suck it, Pedro”), Culkin accepted the award with humility in the end.
