For the first time ever, the Golden Globes was controversial. Ricky Gervais, creator of the British show “The Office” that inspired numerous American shows including the sitcom of the same name, has come under fire for some of the jokes that he made hosting the event on January 16.
Gervais was hired by the Hollywood Foreign Press, the organization that is responsible for the awards show, and was told not to show his script to supervisors beforehand. Perhaps the most important issue his appearance called into question is what is and what is not acceptable for a host to say.
Gervais’ material included jabs at Charlie Sheen’s partying ways, Mel Gibson’s frequent racist comments, the nominated movie “The Tourist,” Tom Cruise’s sexuality, Robert Downey Junior’s tumultuous history and the Hollywood Foreign Press’ own “ballot rigging” law suit. This does not exactly represent new comedic territory, as all of these things have become common comic fodder.
The host unquestionably would have told these jokes in his stand-up specials or on talk shows, but what caused the uproar is that he was doing all of this in front of the people that he was making fun of.
These events are nothing if not a testament to Hollywood stars’ self-importance. They receive awards for doing their jobs and then they talk about how thrilling it is to work with the “artists” that they did. Award shows like The Emmys, The Academy Awards and, to a lesser extent, the Golden Globes, are all-day extravaganzas consisting of hours of congratulations being given to people who already make millions of dollars.
Events that consist primarily of self-aggrandized back-patting cannot complain if there is some backlash. Gervais jokes may not have been polite conversation topics, but he was serving as an entertainer. Indeed, most of his material was genuinely funny, a rare occurrence for hosts of these types of events.
Stars like Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie and Robert Downey Jr. were praised just as often as they were made fun of, and the event itself exists to congratulate them. The jokes were going to be told one way or another, Gervais just had the gall to say it to the people he was making fun of.
The Golden Globes should be happy that their event was responsible for a public conversation, because they normally lack the pull of a show like The Academy Awards. As they say, any press is good press.
One member of the HFPA said, “Ricky [Gervais] will not be invited back to host the show next year. 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.”
If this is true, it displays the true pettiness of the entertainment industry. For people that are constantly in the public eye, they are unexpectedly surprised when people say negative things about them.
Although the Golden Globes are in place to award excellence in television and film, they are also responsible for entertaining a television audience, and that is what Gervais did. And for people to sit through three hours of thanking people for their excellent work, there has to be something to balance it all out.
