Ricky Gervais began the Golden Globes by telling the audience that his fifth time hosting the awards show would officially be his last and then went on to deliver an expletive-laced skewering of Hollywood’s elite.
“You’ll be pleased to know that this is my last time hosting these awards. I don’t care anymore,” Gervais said. “I’m joking, I never did. NBC clearly don’t care either… fifth time.”
Gervais opened the show on Sunday by calling the Hollywood Foreign Press Association racist and declaring Netflix’s takeover of Hollywood.
Gervais said the audience full of powerful TV and movie executives were all “terrified” of journalist Ronan Farrow, who won a Pulitzer for his reporting on disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who goes on trial in New York City on Monday for sexual assault.
Gervais told the crowd about Farrow: “He’s coming for you.”
The comedian also joked that most celebrities showed up to the award show in a limousine, saying he came in a limo as well with a licence plate “made by Felicity Huffman,” joking about the actor’s recent prison stint for her involvement in the college admissions scandal.
Gervais pointed to a table with Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, jokingly calling Pesci “Baby Yoda.”
The comedic actor went on to say it was “a big year for pedophile movies.”
“Surviving R. Kelly, Leaving Neverland, Two Popes,” Gervais said, shrugging. “Shut up. I don’t care, I don’t care.”
He said that many “people of colour were snubbed in major categories.”
“Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that. The Hollywood Foreign Press are all very, very racist,” Gervais told the crowd.
He said the show was going to do an “in memoriam” this year, “but when I saw the list of who died, it wasn’t diverse enough,” Gervais said.
“It was mostly white people, and I thought, ‘Nah, not on my watch.’ Maybe next year? Let’s see what happens,” Gervais said.
He mentioned that not many people watch TV or go to movie theatres anymore.
“Everyone’s watching Netflix. This show should just be me coming out going, ‘Well done, Netflix, you win everything. Goodnight.’ But no, no, we got to drag it out for three hours,” Gervais said.
He said that “all the best actors have jumped to Netflix and HBO. And the actors who just do Hollywood movies now do fantasy adventure nonsense.”
“They wear masks and capes and really tight costumes. Their job isn’t acting anymore. It’s going to the gym twice a day and taking steroids, really,” he said.
“Have we got an award for most ripped junkie?”
Gervais went on to discuss long movies, including The Irishman and Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood.
“Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, nearly three hours long. Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere, and by the end, his date was too old for him,” Gervais told a laughing crowd.
“Even Prince Andrew was like, ‘C’mon, Leo. Mate, you’re nearly 50, son.”
Gervais brought up Cats and said “the world got to see James Corden as a fat p—-. He was also in the movie Cats. No one saw that.”
The acerbic comedic actor was bleeped multiple times, once for referring to a body part of Dame Judi Dench and once when he advised the night’s winners to stick to thanking their agents and their gods, not lecturing the general public.
“Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg, so if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god and f— off,” he said, referring to the teen climate change activist.
Few in the audience should have been surprised by Gervais’ tone: he’s taken delight in dicing up the Hollywood elite with his jokes during his previous hosting stints.
Many people took to Twitter to discuss Gervais’ opening monologue.
Gervais first hosted the Golden Globes in 2010 and went on to do it again in 2011, 2012 and 2014 before hosting this year.
— With files from the Associated Press
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