The 2021 Golden Globes are now in the books. This year’s ceremony was expected to be different and it was, though some things remained the same in that there were winners and there were losers. The television production broke the fourth wall with a bi-coastal production and hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler entertaining viewers Sunday night (Feb. 28).
While the audience was far less populated, those that were in the rooms of the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles and in the Rainbow Room in New York City were first-responders and front line workers. Co-host Tina Fey thanking the crowd so that the celebs could “be safe at home”.
In the ‘same category’ was the lack of Latinos being nominated for a Golden Globe.
However, Anya Taylor-Joy won the Golden Globe for Best Performance for an Actress in a limited series made for television. Her win comes for her role as Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit. She would beat out Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett. Taylor-Joy was also up for Best Actress in a Motion Picture with her role in Emma. The Miami born actress would lose that award to Rosamund Pike in I Care A Lot. The Queen’s Gambit was up for two of Netflix’s record setting 22 nominations, including best Television Limited Series. In the end, the Latina led series would take home both awards before the night was over.
Lin Manuel Miranda was up for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture for his role as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton. The Broadway play turned Disney+ smash hit was up for two Globes on Sunday night. They would lose both to Sasha Baron Cohen.
In the Foreign Language category the Guatemalan/French entry La Llorona was hoping to scare the competition away and into a Golden Globe win. It would be defeated by Minari.
While there were few Latino’s up for a Golden Globe the bigger headline was the lack of Black members in the Hollywood Foreign Press–the organization that hosts the Golden Globes. In fact, there is not a single one among its 87 members world-wide. Various recent reports on the makeup of the HFPA is that over half of the members are female and are made up of members from countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.
Former Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Meher Tatna addressed the issue during the broadcast: “We must also ensure everyone from all underrepresented communities gets a seat at our table, and we are going to make that happen.”
The lack of Black representation would have filmmakers fired up in the days before the broadcast. Ava-Duverney and actor Sterling K. Brown lending their support to the #TimesUpGlobes movement. Later, Latinas America Ferrera and Eva Longoria even posted a callback to her taking a stand with Ferrera five years ago, “It’s a shame we are still banging the drum today,” Longoria posted on her instagram.
As for this year’s awards, Daniel Kaluuya took home the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe for his role in Judas and the Black Messiah. The first acceptance speech was almost missed due to his mic being on mute and had the production suffering a television technical hiccup–one that we can all relate to thanks to 2020. John Boyega took home the Globe for Supporting Actor in a Television Role for his work in Small Axe.
The late Chadwick Boseman would win the Best Actor Motion Picture Drama for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Boseman passed away in August 2020. Andra Day took home the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama as Billie Holiday in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. It would appear that in the end though, not everyone was singing the blues.