2021 Golden Globes Recap: Our Favorite and Not-So Favorite Moments
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2021 Golden Globes Recap: Our Favorite and Not-So Favorite Moments

Written by Zeynep Sasmazel on March 1, 2021
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Awards Season is my Super Bowl. It’s my bread and butter. It’s my favorite excuse to be annoyingly aggressive about my (relatively trivial in the grand scheme of things) opinions online — and it’s finally here. Last night the 2021 Golden Globes aired in all of its half-virtual/half-in-person glory, and there were some truly stand-out moments, along with some … not so great ones.

Here’s a recap of the 2021 Golden Globes, with our favorite and not-so-favorite moments:

Last night we watched Tina Fey and Amy Poehler virtually co-host the 2021 Golden Globes from NYC and L.A., respectively

1. Favorite Moment: Chloé Zhao became only the second woman in history to win a Golden Globe for Best Director, Motion Picture and the first Asian-American woman ever to win.

Her film Nomadland, about a woman who loses her job and decides to travel the American West, is available to stream on Hulu. In her acceptance speech at the 2021 Golden Globes, she quoted one of the nomads she worked with for the film, saying, “Compassion is a breakdown of all the barriers between us. A heart-to-heart bonding. Your pain is my pain; it’s mingled and shared between us.” Zhao said that this is one of the reasons she fell in love with making movies.

2. Not-So-Favorite Moment: The HFPA is still embarrassingly, unapologetically and depressingly racist.

Comedy legends Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted from two different cities, and made a point to call out the lack of diversity among the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the body of individuals who decide who to hand out the awards to, and who don’t have a single Black member in their group of 87 journalists!

“The HFPA is made up of around 90 international — no Black — journalists,” they opened.

Schitt’s Creek actor Dan Levy also brought this up during his win for Best Musical or Comedy TV Series: “In the spirit of inclusion, I hope this time next year this ceremony reflects the true breadth and diversity of film and television being made today because there is so much more to be celebrated.”

3. Favorite Moment: John Boyega is officially a Golden Globe winner.

4. Favorite moment: I love a celebratory gay kiss.

Jodie Foster won Best Supporting Actress for The Mauritanian and shared a kiss with her wife, Alexandra Hedison … and in that moment we were all Olivia Colman.

5. Favorite moment: Chadwick Boseman’s posthumous Best Actor win.

In the most poignant moment of the night, Chadwick Boseman won the award for Best Actor in a Drama for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. His acceptance speech was given by his wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, saying: “He would say something beautiful, something inspiring, something that would amplify that little voice inside of all of us that tells you you can, that tells you to keep going, that calls you back to what you’re meant to be doing at this moment in history.”

6. Favorite moment: This heartfelt tribute.

This tribute to Boseman was so, so sweet.

7. Favorite moment: Jane Fonda is a certified badass.

The Cecil B. DeMille Award went to — in my humble opinion — the coolest woman this world has ever seen: Jane Fonda. And in true Jane Fonda fashion, she used her speech at the 2021 Golden Globes to highlight the need for inclusivity, diversity and leadership in the industry.

She began by saying, “You see, stories have a way to … they can change our hearts and our minds. They can help us see each other in a new light. To have empathy. To recognize that, for all our diversity, we are humans first, right?”

And then continued:

But there’s a story we’ve been afraid to see and hear about ourselves in this industry. A story about which voices we respect and elevate — and which we tune out. A story about who’s offered a seat at the table and who is kept out of the rooms where decisions are made.

So let’s all of us — including all the groups that decide who gets hired and what gets made and who wins awards — let’s all of us make an effort to expand that tent. So that everyone rises and everyone’s story has a chance to be seen and heard. I mean, doing this simply means acknowledging what’s true. Being in step with the emerging diversity that’s happening because of all those who marched and fought in the past and those who’ve picked up the baton today.

After all, art has always been not just in step with history, but has led the way. So, let’s be leaders, OK?

8. Not-So-Favorite Moment: The snubs.

This year’s 2021 Golden Globes Ambassadors were Satchel and Jackson Lee — the Spike Lee’s children — only further highlighting the fact that the legendary director’s film, Da 5 Bloods, was completely snubbed this year.

(For the record, Delroy Lindo gave the performance of the year in his role as Paul.)

9. Favorite Moment: Anya Taylor-Joy in Dior.

10. Favorite AND Not-So-Favorite Moment: Minari won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

It was barred from the Best Picture Category despite being financed and produced by American companies, written and directed by an American man, and taking place in America.

You can check out Hornet’s review of Minari here.

Did you catch the 2021 Golden Globes last night? What were your favorite and least favorite moments?

Golden Globes

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