Ricky Gervais responds to suggestion he should roast ‘Hollywood elite’ anyway after Golden Globes show axed
NBC has announced it will not broadcast the 2022 ceremony
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Your support makes all the difference.Ricky Gervais – who has become almost synonymous with the Golden Globes after hosting it five times – has responded to news that the 2022 ceremony has been pulled by NBC.
The awards broadcast was axed in the wake of criticism of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the organisation behind the Globes, for its lack of diversity. There is not a single Black person among its 87 members.
Without the Globes, NBC will have a multi-hour gap in its schedule next year, but one Twitter user had an idea of how to fill some of it.
“Instead of golden globes 2022 can we do a 1-hour @rickygervais special roasting the Hollywood elite,” Andrew V Pestano tweeted.
To which Gervais replied: “The Golden Balls.”
The comedian’s opening monologue at the 2020 Globes made headlines after he took aim at everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to James Corden.
“It’s almost three hours long – it’s an epic,” he began, referring to the Quentin Tarantino movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. “Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere and by the end his date was too old for him.”
As the audience, including DiCaprio, laughed along, Gervais threw in: “Even Prince Andrew’s like, ‘Come on mate, you’re nearly 50, son.”
In a statement published on Monday (10 May), the HFPA did not address NBC’s decision, but board members of the group laid out its schedule for reforms.
“Regardless of the next air date of the Golden Globes, implementing transformational changes as quickly – and as thoughtfully – as possible remains the top priority for our organisation,” the group said in a statement. “We invite our partners in the industry to the table to work with us on the systemic reform that is long overdue, both in our organisation as well as within the industry at large.”
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Last week, the HFPA voted to bring a chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer into the organisation, as well as new members, presumably with a focus on diversity.
In response to the controversy, Tom Cruise has reportedly sent back all three of the prizes awarded to him by the HFPA: Best Actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire and Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia.
Scarlett Johansson also called on the film industry to “step back” from the Golden Globes until HFPA and the awards undergo “fundamental reform”.
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