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Sunday night's Golden Globes were the first big televised award show since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke. An enormous number of women have come forward to accuse the famous Hollywood producer of sexual assault and targeted harassment, including blacklisting them and stunting their careers.
The story opened the floodgates; women everywhere have been coming forward about abusers, and so have men. No one was sure exactly how the night would go.
Activists and Hollywood elite have banded together to create an organization called Time's Up, which promotes gender equality and combats abuse. Attendees wore black in solidarity with the victims who have been coming forward about their experiences under the hashtag #MeToo. And people did not hold back about a change that is on the way.
Even host Seth Meyers was joking about it, saying Weinstein will be the first person to get booed during their In Memorium segment some day.
"I think its time to address the elephant not in the room. Harvey Weinstein isn't here tonight but he'll be back in 20 years to be the first person booed during the in memoriam." SETH MEYERS WENT OFFFDF #goldenglobes
Then Oprah lit it up with a speech as she accepted her Cecille B. DeMille award, the first black woman to ever receive the Golden Globe's honor. Her speech covered many aspects of abuse in media, and also all over the world, but it also contained the rallying cry, "Time's up!"
Time's Up has attracted a lot of high profile members, and one of them is actress Natalie Portman. She even joined Instagram, her only social media account, just to promote it:
Portman had the job of announcing Best Director along with Ron Howard. The nominees were Guillermo del Toro, Martin McDonagh, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, and Steven Spielberg. Notice anything they have in common?
Portman and Howard took the stage
"We are honored," said Howard, "To be here to present the award for best director."
Then Portman leaned into the mic and said, "And here are the all-male nominees." Judging from Howard's reaction, that wasn't written on the teleprompter.
It should be noted that this same evening Ladybird, which was directed by Greta Gerwig, won Best Motion picture in the Musical or Comedy category. The director of that film didn't even get a nomination.
People were loving this live TV call out:
Natalie Portman went into savage mode and poor Guillermo del Toro never saw it coming pic.twitter.com/DF0BAcReSt
I gotta say that what Natalie Portman did by adding the word "male" to the introduction for best director took some serious guts. Did you see the awkward looks? That's the face of change.
— Caitlin S(mart, like, really smart) (@Paleophile) January 8, 2018
The reaction in the audience was more awkward laughter than lighters flaring, but later the only woman to have ever won Best Director at the Golden Globes addressed the controversy.
Barbra Streisand is the only woman to win a #GoldenGlobe for Best Director (for Yentl in 1984). That stat will not be broken this year as there are no women nominated in that category. pic.twitter.com/bGwKBtTpGk
Barbara Streisand was presenting for Best Picture. She won Best Director in 1984 for Yentl, and no other woman has since. Before announcing the nominees, she said:
"So backstage I heard they said something about my — I was the only woman to get, did I hear it right, yes, the only woman to get the Best Director award. And, you know, that was 1984? That was 34 years ago? Folks, time’s up. We need more women directors and more women to be nominated for director. There are so many films out there that are so good directed by women."
Barbara Streisand calling out that a woman hasn’t won best director in 34 years is the perfect way to end the #GoldenGlobes . I hope this female positivity bleeds into The Oscars and more into the entertainment industry as a whole.
This is all pretty heavy stuff, but it does make for some exciting live television. And it also means that everyone else is going to have to step up their game. According toUSA Today, though many men wore Time's Up pins and dressed in black, none of them mentioned #MeToo in their speeches.
And many presenters were unprepared for how serious the night would be. In particular, E! news got called out repeatedly for its gender pay equality problem that led to popular host Catt Sadler quitting the network, first by Debra Messing.
While speaking on the red carpet to Giuliana Rancic for E!, Messing said:
"I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn't believing in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts. I miss Catt Sadler. So we stand with her. And that's something that can change tomorrow. We people to start having this conversation that women are just as valuable as men."
Debra Messing drags E! (while being interviewed on E!): "I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn't believing in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts" pic.twitter.com/HF3B2uhwtF
And on his island, Ryan Seacrest messed up when he was interviewing Michelle Williams and her guest for the night, activist Tarana Burke, who started the #MeToo movement. People were pretty disappointed in how Seacrest handled it:
Seriously, Ryan Seacrest cutting Michelle Williams off mid-sentence, while she and activist Tarana Burke discuss women's rights is just a little too ironic #GoldenGlobes
I've now seen Ryan Seacrest say "thank you for your solidarity," with obviously no idea what it means, to Tarana Burke, and I don't know what to do with it except cackle
