Golden Globes: Ryan Murphy to Receive Carol Burnett Award for TV Career Achievements

Ryan Murphy has a date with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The TV mogul has been confirmed to receive the Carol Burnett Award at the Golden Globes on Jan. 10, one of the night’s highest honors opposite the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which is headed to Eddie Murphy.

Murphy, a five-time Globes winner and 16-time nominee, will receive only the fourth trophy with Burnett’s name on it after it was established for the 2019 ceremony. After Burnett took one home that year, the Globes have since honored Ellen DeGeneres and Norman Lear. As selected by HFPA’s board of directors, the prize is given out to someone “based on their body of work and the lasting impact that their television career achievements have had on both the industry and audiences.”

In choosing Murphy, the Globes recognize a prolific and gay creator who has pushed for inclusion and equality in Hollywood. In addition to featuring boundary-pushing, inclusive storylines, Murphy has worked to create opportunities for those off-camera through his Half Initiative. Launched in 2016, he set out to have 50 percent of all director slots on his shows filled by women, people of color and members of the LGBT community.

He’s got a list of credits a mile long and a mantle filled with Emmys, Globes, a Tony and a Peabody Award, among others. He created Popular, Nip/Tuck, Glee, Feud, Pose, Scream Queens, 9-1-1 and the American Horror Story and American Crime Story franchises. His first American Crime Story installment, The People vs. O.J. Simpson, won 10 Emmys including best limited series. The second installment, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, won seven Emmys and two Globes.

Murphy’s FX drama Pose made history by featuring the largest transgender series regular cast and the largest LGBTQ cast for a scripted series. Other credits include Halston, Hollywood, The Politician, Ratched, The Andy Warhol Diaries, The Watcher, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Broadway’s The Boys in the Band, and the TV movie The Normal Heart, among many others.

“Ryan Murphy not only continues to enthrall audiences with his work on some of the most thrilling and exciting series of the century, but also continues to inspire all with his work off the screen,” said HFPA president Helen Hoehne. “His work and storytelling ability throughout different film and television genres have led to highly acclaimed achievements and awards.”

The Golden Globes ceremony will return in 2023 after one year off the air amid a scandal with the Globes’ parent organization. As a result, HFPA underwent an overhaul, a new voting class was added, and its previous PR firm, Sunshine Sachs, parted ways with the organization. 

As noted, the ceremony will be held on Jan. 10 and hosted by comedian Jerrod Carmichael, airing live across the nation at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on NBC and its streaming service Peacock from the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Nominations were announced on Monday.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the Golden Globes, is owned by Eldridge Industries. The Hollywood Reporter is owned by PME Holdings, LLC, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge.