A small minority of whiners have been complaining that Ricky Gervais’ Golden Globes monologue contained jokes that were just too mean. Oh, poor Angelina Jolie! How dare anyone make fun of her for making a bad movie that everyone agrees was bad! How will she, one of the richest and most famous people in the world, ever recover from such mighty barbs? We’re in a recession, for chrissakes! Won’t someone think of John Travolta’s feelings? But the joke he made at the expense of Philip Berk, the current head of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, seems to have gotten him in the most trouble.
A member of the HFPA had this to say: “Ricky will not be invited back to host the show next year, for sure. For sure any movie he makes he can forget about getting nominated. He humiliated the organization last night and went too far with several celebrities whose representatives have already called to complain.â€
Now, is it just me or does this further delegitimize these already laughable awards? Like, aren’t these supposed to be about, you know, the quality of the movies, shows and performances, not how much movie stars are willing to suck up to these jerkoff journalists? Give me a fucking break. Not that Gervais has anything to worry about; he makes actual comedies, while the HFPA nominates shit like The Tourist in the comedy category.
The Golden Globes are a joke, and if Ricky Gervais hadn’t made funny and accurate jokes that gave the show some life, it would have been even more boring, if that’s even possible. I say kudos to Gervais and his writers for having the stones to bite the hand that feeds them and put comedy in front of the politics of something as ridiculous and meaningless as these awards. Here’s Stephen Merchant on last night’s jokes: “I don’t think anyone gave permission. But to me that’s in the mold of, Bob Hope went and entertained the troops and has a go at the colonels. You always have a go at the boss. That’s funny.â€