The Golden Globes has finally held their 82nd annual award show which was hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser on January 5th. Shows such as Shotgun and movies like Wicked were given awards along with the loved actresses and actors who stared in them. However, in recent years we’ve seen a change in these award ceremonies. Ranging from Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars to the questionable hosts, these award shows have always managed to be the center of controversy in Hollywood shortly after its aired. This controversy has led to many celebrities to reject the award shows all together. For example, Brendan Fraser who is best known for his work on movies such as “The Whale” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, has openly rejected attending the Golden Globes despite being nominated and stated: “My mother didn’t raise a hypocrite.” This reaction to an invite to the Golden Globes comes as no surprise seeing what Frasers unfortunate Hollywood experience has been.
This rejection of the award shows does not just stop at Fraser and the Golden Globes. Even Tom Cruize has openly rejected the Golden Globes and went as far as to return his three awards in an act of protest accusing the organization of lacking diversity in their crowds and those who receive awards. Actresses such as Kathrine Hepburn had also openly refused to go to the Oscars even when she was nominated and won. Award shows such as these have also been questioned on if their choices on who wins what award are fair or chosen simply because the popularity of the celebrities in them, but a common complaint seen is a “lack of diversity”. Another example of this is when Will Smith, who is now famously known for slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, has once vowed to not attend the Oscars for a lack of diversity when finding out that for the second year in a row all of the 10 nominees for the awards were all white. This was not the first boycott we’ve seen from actor Will Smith: In 1989 he had refused to attend the Grammys upon finding out that the award for best rap performance would not be televised. So, boycotting these events is nothing new in Hollywood but the real audience of these shows is not the celebrities in the outfits you will see recaps on later but us the viewers.
However, in recent years we have seen a decline in the Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and other popular awards shows. In 1994 over 21 million people had tuned in to watch the ceremony but in 2020 these views dropped below 5 million. The Oscars had also lost academy award views with their audience being only half the size it was compared to 2015. This may sound terrible but there are still millions of viewers and countless google searches after these ceremonies which, considering all of the controversy these shows have had its surprising that in this generation some of these shows have not changed completely or have been shut down all together.
This brings me to ask the question: What’s keeping the award season alive? It’s believed that during awards season social media has created the most significant advertisements for these shows. We always heard during this time about the outfits all the celebrities had worn and all the shady moments between commercial breaks or even that lady who likes to read lips on TikTok. All of these things attribute to the viewership of the award season and the overall appeal to the public because if social media wasn’t here to give us this insight, then these shows would be at the top of the list for problems in the industry. Some people see this as the greatest night of the year while others are annoyed at the thought of it so, what are your thoughts on this interesting time of year?
