Michaela Jae Rodriguez Celebrates After Historic Golden Globes Win: “The Door Is Now Open”

Although much of Hollywood reacted with a shrug to Sunday’s announcement of the Golden Globe Awards winners amid a year of criticism over inclusivity and ethics, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez was not one to downplay her appreciation.

The Pose star became the first trans woman to score a Globe when she won for best actress in a TV drama, and she took to Instagram to celebrate the moment. Rodriguez shared a photo of herself that announced the win, and she added an enthusiastic caption in which she expressed gratitude for the honor and also reflected on its greater importance.

“This is the door that is going to Open the door for many more young talented individuals,” she wrote. “They will see that it is more than possible. They will see that a young Black Latina girl from Newark New Jersey who had a dream, to change the minds others would WITH LOVE. LOVE WINS. To my young LGBTQAI babies WE ARE HERE the door is now open now reach the stars!!!!!”

Rodriguez also celebrated with an ebullient Instagram Live video, during which she dedicated her win to the “many multi, beautiful colors of the rainbow around the freakin’ world.”

Her Pose co-star Angelica Love Ross congratulated Rodriguez on Twitter, as did series co-creator Steven Canals.

Typically, the Globes are handed out in a splashy and boozy ceremony filled with big-name stars, but that wasn’t the case this year. In February 2020, the Los Angeles Times scrutinized the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group behind the Globes, for its total lack of Black members, along with calling attention to the organization’s ethically and financially problematic practices.

This led many in Hollywood to boycott the event, with longtime broadcasting partner NBC announcing in May that it would not air the 2022 ceremony. Instead, the winners were announced during a private, celebrity-free event, and the results were shared on Twitter.

As for the limited number of other winners who acknowledged their own victories on social media, the general tone tended to be more subdued. West Side Story’s Ariana DeBose, winner for best supporting actress, appeared to comment on the criticism of the HFPA by tweeting that there “is still work to be done” but that it’s “always going to be special” to have her hard work appreciated.

Meanwhile, DeBose’s West Side Story co-star Rachel Zegler, who won for best actress, pointed out on Twitter that she won her Globe three years to the day after she was initially cast as Maria in the film. “Life is very strange,” she wrote.