Hollywood felt embarrassing instead of exciting on Golden Globes night

Dear Gossips,

The Golden Globes are over, so let’s reflect on the Golden Globes. It was long acknowledged in better days within the industry that the Globes were a bit of a farce. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association was a mysterious cabal of largely unknown international “journalists” who were repeatedly busted for plagiarizing or making up interviews with celebrities. They were known for rewarding expensive gifts and exclusive meet and greets with talent with nominations and awards, but the Globes were also cheeky and never seemed to take itself as seriously as the Oscars, so everyone kind of went along with it. Until the HFPA’s blind spots simply became too big to ignore, and the whole thing blew up.

Now, the Globes are run by a billionaire cabal headed by Penske Media, which I have covered over the years but here’s one example. This year’s Globes, though, the third since the new Globes launched in 2023, was the worst telecast so far. It just felt so…shameless. Shamelessly money grubbing—they sold tickets for $70K a pop—shamelessly pumping up the interests of the billionaires who own the Globes and their buddies, which includes Donald Trump, Jr., who is invested in online prediction/betting market, Polymarket.

Throughout the telecast, a Polymarket chyron appeared stating the winning odds for various categories, a thing absolutely no one asked for. I know people participate in Oscar pools and such, but don’t confuse that with a legitimate interest in gambling, that’s about being right. I don’t think the kind of people who will tune into the Golden Globes have much overlap with people into online betting. Maybe I’m wrong, but based on the night-of reactions to the Polymarket inclusion, I don’t think I am.

Richard Rushfield, who founded The Ankler newsletter, has been covering the HFPA, the Globes, and the scammy Penske-era of the Globes. He published a scathing take down of the Globes on The Ankler, and one thing I appreciate about Rushfield is that he continually asks what purpose these awards show serve beyond handing out trophies. He consistently asserts that awards shows essentially exist to sell Hollywood as a dream factory to the rest of the world, but that awards shows, from the Oscars down, have been doing an increasingly poor job of this over the years.

Could part of Hollywood’s myriad problems be that there is no selling point for younger generations to be inspired to run away to the circus? I used to watch the Oscars and Golden Globes in wonder, marveling at the glamour, inspired by the art, and dreaming about the possibility that maybe, someday, I could be part of that world. On those big nights, Hollywood felt exciting. But on this Golden Globes night, Hollywood just felt embarrassing. All the tricks and stunts, from Polymarket to that super f-king weird and incredibly asinine UFC moment, felt cheap and tacky and killed whatever glamour the stars could muster between them.

I don’t think the dream factory is dead. I think there are still kids dreaming about running away to the circus, but I do think those numbers are dwindling, and it might be at least in part because Hollywood is no longer using big nights to reflect its brilliance as a lure to inspire new talent to come and try their luck (acknowledging here a huge part of the problem is access and expense, but that is a separate conversation). Hollywood is failing at self-promotion, like the whole industry is too embarrassed to express any pride in itself, and the Golden Globes are the new nadir in Hollywood’s crisis of confidence.

Here’s Dakota Johnson leaving a Golden Globes after party the other night.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah