When it comes to the 2022 Golden Globes, Hollywood’s biggest stars have become the “I pretend I do not see it†meme.
Next month’s Globes will take place under a cloud of controversy — that is, if they take place at all. With the awards show caught up in a rolling boil of scandals over the previous lack of Black members in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and general Oscar-season corruption, NBC canceled January’s telecast, throwing the future of the show into doubt. Undaunted, the Globes on Monday announced their nominations for the best of 2021 anyway.
The nominations provided a miniature ethical dilemma for this year’s honorees. Would they publicly thank the Globes under the assumption that it’s never a bad thing to be seen to be gracious? Or would they stand with the Hollywood establishment — and their PR firms, who as Richard Rushfield notes have long grumbled at the HFPA’s all-or-nothing credentialing policy — and pretend that the Golden Globes simply did not exist? Vulture pored through the social-media accounts of this year’s nominated performers and found at least a dozen actors willing to publicly thank, or at least mention, the Globes. (Note that, since Instagram Stories automatically delete after 24 hours, it’s possible others slipped through our digital dragnet.)
Some were past winners and nominees who might have felt they owed it to the HFPA. Some were not American and thus might have been less invested in Hollywood’s local disputes. Maybe others simply forgot about the controversy. Whatever the reasons, their responses generally fell within one of four categories. Here they are.
Business As Usual
Scandal? What scandal? For these nominees, there was no reason to be self-conscious — a nom is a nom!
Nicole Kidman (Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama, for Being the Ricardos)
If any A-lister was going to thank the Golden Globes, it was longtime HFPA fave Nicole Kidman. The 16-time Globe nominee (and three-time winner) posted a still from Being the Ricardos to her Instagram Story with the caption “Thank you #GoldenGlobes for the nomination â¤ï¸â€.
Catriona Balfe (Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Belfast)
The Outlander star was another previous Globe nominee to repay the HFPA’s kindness, giving the Globes the honor of an Instagram grid post and retweeting the Globes’ official account.
Jamie Dornan (Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Belfast)
Unlike his co-star, Dornan went Story-only, reposting the Globes’ official announcement of the Supporting Actor lineup.
Cynthia Erivo (Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology, or TV Movie for Genius: Aretha Franklin)
The only actress nominated for playing Aretha Franklin at the Globes this year commemorated the occasion by posting BTS photos on her grid with the caption, “Such an honour 💚 One more way to celebrate the Queen of Soul,†which is the “great gowns, beautiful gowns†of the Genius versus Respect feud. The Londoner also shared a graphic of her nomination on her Instagram Story.
Jessica Chastain (Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama, for The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology, or TV Movie for Scenes From a Marriage)
Our most extremely online star, and a Globe winner for Zero Dark Thirty, Chastain reveled in her double nomination by thanking the Globes on both Twitter and Instagram Stories alongside a GIF of herself in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
Billy Porter (Best Actor in a Television Series, Drama, for Pose)
The three-time nominee Pose-ted the Globes’ official graphic of the Best Actor category to his Instagram account, using the caption to shout out co-star Michaela Jaé Rodriguez for her own nomination.
Omar Sy (Best Actor in a Television Series, Drama, for Lupin)
No one was happier to be nominated than Omar Sy. The French actor posted a thank-you message to both Twitter and Instagram, calling his nomination “so symbolic for me, for us, for so many reasons ðŸ™ðŸ¿â€. He also quote-tweeted the Globes’ official post and retweeted seven congratulatory Tweets about the nomination. That’s why they don’t call him Omar Shy.
The Double Thank-you
The Critics Choice Awards announced their nominations on the same day as the Globes, which as our friend Kyle Buchanan noted, allowed lucky double-nominees the opportunity to play it safe and thank both at the same time.
Hannah Waddingham (Best Supporting Actress in Television for Ted Lasso)
Richmond F.C’s girl boss took the savvy approach, posting a Ted Lasso cast photo to her Instagram Story with the caption, “Thank you soooo much @goldenglobes and @criticschoice.â€
The Praise Retweeters
Celebrating a Globe nomination this year could come off as gauche. But reposting others’ celebration of you? That’s just good manners.
Ariana DeBose (Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for West Side Story)
West Side Story’s new Anita shared a couple of friends’ congratulatory posts on her Instagram Story. Having perhaps seen Kyle’s tweet, those friends also took care to fold in DeBose’s Globes nom with her Critics Choice one.
Paul Bettany (Best Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology, or TV Movie for Wandavision)
Using his android mastery of technology, Bettany reposted on his Instagram Story at least two people who’d tagged him with praise.
Brett Goldstein (Best Supporting Actor in Television for Ted Lasso)
On his Twitter account, the human actor retweeted plaudits from West London Film Studios, where Ted Lasso shoots.
Teach the Controversy
Finally, a pair of nominees decided to acknowledge both the honor and the fact that this is not a normal year for the Globes.
Troy Kotsur (Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for CODA)
In perhaps the most backhanded acceptance of the nomination, Kotsur simply retweeted a THR story headlined “Golden Globes: HFPA Announces Nominations Despite Ongoing Boycott.â€
Brian Cox (Best Actor in a Television Series, Drama, for Succession)
In a post-Succession finale interview with THR, the past Best Actor in a Drama winner spoke about the Globes boycott: “I’m a bit in the dark about that. But if you’re honored, you’ve got to respond by saying ‘thank you,’ rather than go, ‘Oh yeah, you honored me, now fuck off.’â€