Ricky Gervais, The Golden Globes, and a Call to Action for Hollywood

Ricky Gervais has been a favorite Golden Globes host since his debut in 2010. He is known for his unfiltered jabs at celebrities and members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). While most of Gervais’ jokes can be written off as “distasteful” to some and “wickedly funny” to others, they have progressed over the years from harmless roasts to full-on critiques of the HFPA. Gervais’ earlier hosting gigs (2010, 2011, and 2012) tread lightly around the association he represents. The host made cracks about mostly himself, Mel Gibson, and other individual celebrities and limited his jabs at the Globes. For instance, Gervais quipped, “One thing that can’t be bought is a Golden Globe…officially.” He constantly repeated, “I’m not doing this again” and always found a way to critique despite claiming that he didn’t care. His performative passiveness didn’t stop him from critiquing the organization and Hollywood in later years. In the last two hosting gigs, Gervais highlighted serious Hollywood issues, including the lack of representation in film, female pay, celebrity hypocrisy, and the acceptance of bribes by various show producers. 

If you are an avid award-show-watcher, you may have noticed that the 2022 Golden Globes didn’t air on NBC this year. In 2021, NBC announced that it would not be airing the Golden Globes. This announcement came out after the Los Angeles Times reported that there were no black members of the HFPA and rumors of bribery from show producers. Furthermore, the 2020 awards received heavy scrutiny due to mostly white winners. Although this is the first time major stars such as Tom Cruise and networks like NBC publicly addressed the Globe’s problems, the article wasn’t sharing any information that Gervais hadn’t already mentioned in his jokes. 

It is increasingly evident that Gervais, and possibly the audience who loves him, doesn’t care about the Golden Globes anymore. They are also fully aware of the issues within the organization. There is little to no talk on social media about the Golden Globes or the lack of a 2022 show. The Globes didn’t matter this year. According to Gervais, they only mean anything to the stars themselves. That being said, even some celebrities don’t think the Golden Globes matter anymore. The 2022 winners barely addressed that they won after being announced on Twitter. The case of the 2022 Globes offer us two questions: What makes The Golden Globes matter (if they ever did)? If we don’t care anymore about awards shows or the sanctity of the HFPA, should we care about representation and integrity within the organization?

Maybe it’s better to ask whether or not the Golden Globes matter to us. Do they matter to the HFPA? Yes. Do they matter to directors, actors, and other moviemakers? Maybe. Do they matter to the public? That’s unclear. If you ask some of my colleagues, they love award season. However, most of America seems to be opting out of watching the awards shows. Many are saying that the entire award industry is dying. Whether or not you watch these shows or check the winners the following day, does it actually affect the movies you watch? You may watch a film because it won something. If you are like me, you likely go to your friends, family, or streaming services for movie recommendations, not the Golden Globe website. Furthermore, it seems like most people watch the show for the comedic roasts form people like Gervais. There are people out there who care and people who don’t. However, if there is to be a reform in the award industry, organizations need to determine what people are paying attention to. 

So if award shows don’t matter to the people, do we care if they make a reform? The HFPA announced that it added members to its party who were people of color and changed some of its bylaws. They also announced their first Chief Diversity, Neil Phillips. NBC even responded by saying they would possibly air the Golden Globes in 2023. Will that change the outcome of their 2023 audience? Who knows. It might not even be worth their time. Gervais has been increasingly making fun of the corruption since 2010. It took ten years for NBC to call out the Golden Globes, and by the time they did, no one missed the show.

The lack of representation of people of color is not exclusive to the Golden Globes. The Oscars, studios, budgets, talent, and every piece of the entertainment industry lacks people of color and women. However, there is an improvement, and we are slowly getting a more diverse industry. I don’t doubt that Ricky Gervais and NBC calling out the Golden Globes isn’t necessary, but maybe we should hold every aspect of Hollywood as accountable. Perhaps the Golden Globes and its critics are the first steps to a more progressive industry. 

Originally published on culturecritically.com.

Article courtesy of Sara Ciplickas