FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Identity

Bless the Women Who Made This Year's Golden Globes Tolerable

Instead of the usual hours-long celebration of the rich and famous, this year's Golden Globes ceremony offered a funny yet serious acknowledgment that men need to do better.

While the most high-profile subjects of the sexual assault reckoning include entertainment giants like Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, and Louis C.K.—and some of #MeToo’s most vocal advocates include Hollywood and Hollywood-adjacent names like Rose McGowan, Asia Argento, and Ronan Farrow—the industry is still not rid of its "casting couch" culture, award-winning abusers, and the power dynamics that enable them both. Kevin Spacey and Danny Masterson may have lost their jobs over sexual misconduct allegations, but noted alleged abusers like Woody Allen and Roman Polanski are still out there winning awards and facing no repercussions. Audiences crave an award ceremony that acknowledges this shitty fact—and last night’s Golden Globes did just that.

Advertisement

As we take these first, incremental steps toward dismantling the culture of sexual assault and workplace abuse, no one wants to see celebrities patting themselves on the back for doing the bare minimum. Add into the mix the fact that our president is a reality TV star pushing the world to the brink of a high-ratings apocalypse, and it’s clear that an hours-long program showcasing the rich and famous getting drunk and congratulating each other would serve as little more than a tonedeaf reminder of how much we hate the rich and famous.

So thank goddess that women in Hollywood turned the Golden Globes into an opportunity to acknowledge that there’s a lot more work ahead of us, and that we can still treat a shitty situation with humor and gravitas. Praise these heroes of the Golden Globes, the women who made us laugh to keep from crying at the depressing state of the world, and made us cry to keep from laughing at the absurdity of it all:

JESSICA CHASTAIN

When host Seth Meyers took on the daunting task of bringing humor to the serious subject on everyone’s minds, he chose to pass the mic to people in the audience better fitted to say the punch lines. Meyers set up a joke by saying, "The Golden Globes turns 75 this year…" and Jessica Chastain rolled her eyes and responded, "but the actress who plays his wise is still only 32."

ISSA RAE

And when the host went on to congratulate Issa Rae for having "three projects in development" with HBO, the Insecure creator and star responded: "Yeah…and ‘three projects’ is also where they think I’m from."

Advertisement

AMY POEHLER

Meyers’s schtick ended with Amy Poehler, who feigned outrage at the fact that he tried to set up her punch line at all. "I’ll do one, but I don’t need your help," the former Globes host quipped. When Meyers explained the bit, Poehler shot back in a mocking voice, "Oh, is that how it works? You’re explaining something I already know, is this the mansplaining part of the evening?"

DEBRA MESSING

In her red carpet interview with E!, Will & Grace star Debra Messing called out the company for its history with gender wage disparity: "We want diversity, we want intersectional gender parity, we want equal pay," she said. "I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts. I mean, I miss Catt Sadler. We stand with her and that’s something that can change tomorrow. We want people to start having this conversation that women are just as valuable as men."

NATALIE PORTMAN

As the actor presented the award for Best Director alongside Ron Howard, she introduced candidates by saying, "And here are the all-male nominees"—inspiring memes in every corner of the internet.

OPRAH

Oprah may not have employed deadpan humor, but she was deadly serious about addressing racism and sexism in Hollywood and the world at large. Not only did the mononymous icon bring Recy Taylor's story to the spotlight, she also inspired and activated viewers so much that people are now calling for her presidential bid.