Golden Globes 2023: Host Jerrod Carmichael skewers show in opening monologue

The 80th annual Golden Globes Award opened with host Jerrod Carmichael, in a subtle but very funny monologue, going straight at the racial controversies of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that threatened to sideline the awards show for good in 2021.

After an investigation found that the 100 or so members of the HFPA, which runs the Golden Globes, included no Black members, it was not broadcast in 2022, and its return on Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton was seen as a trial run to see if the Golden Globes could continue.

“I’ll tell you why I’m here,” Carmichael said, sitting on the stage after mock-scolding the star-studded audience to settle down. “I’m here because I’m Black. I’ll catch everyone in the room up. If you settle down a little bit, I’ll tell you what’s been going on.”

Carmichael noted the turmoil that ensnared the HFPA, joking, “I won’t say they were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died. So do with that what you will.”

Then he recounted the call he got from the producer of the awards show, asking him to host this year.

“One minute you’re making mint tea at home, the next you’re invited to be the Black face of an embattled organization,” he said. “Life really comes at you fast, you know.”

The crowd laughed, and Carmichael continued the monologue, noting that when he called his “home girl Avery” to ask her advice, she asked how much he was getting paid, and on hearing it was $500,000 more or less told him to get it together.

“She said, ‘Boy, if you don’t put on a good suit and take them White people’s money…” he said, laughter from the audience even louder now.

From there the show got into its first awards categories with singer-actress Jennifer Hudson announcing the best supporting actor in a movie award for Ke Huy Quan for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and best supporting actress in a movie for Angela Bassett for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”