Ricky Gervais mentioned racism, diversity, and made jokes about several A-listers during his Golden Globes opening monologue. Photo / AP
Ricky Gervais mentioned racism, diversity, and made jokes about several A-listers during his Golden Globes opening monologue. Photo / AP
Comedian Ricky Gervais opened the 77th Golden Globe Awards, and no one in the room was safe from his jokes.
"Let's go out with a bang, let's have a laugh at your expense...remember, they're just jokes!" He says before launching into his roast of Hollywood celebrities.
He took aim atstars Leonardo DiCaprio, Judi Dench, and director Martin Scorsese.
"It's been a big year for paedophile movies," he said, listing the documentaries Surviving R Kelly and Leaving Neverland. He added to the list the movie about Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, The Two Popes, making a dig at the Catholic church.
He criticised The Hollywood Foreign Press, calling the organisation "very racist", and explained he decided not to include an In Memoriam segment because the celebrity deaths in 2019 "were not diverse enough."
"I thought nah, not on my watch."
He praised Martin Scorsese's three and a half hour epic The Irishman and mentioned his controversial comments about Marvel movies not being real cinema.
Commenting on the long duration of The Irishman and Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, Gervais included a dig at Leonardo DiCaprio.
"Leonardo DiCaprio attended the Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood premiere, and by the end of it his date was older than him."
Ricky Gervais mentioned racism, diversity, and made jokes about several A-listers during his Golden Globes opening monologue. Photo / AP
Gervais was holding back laughter as he was talking about the easiest target of the night, the movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats.
Judi Dench stars in the movie, and Gervais crudely joked Dench only says she was "born to play" Old Deuteronomy because "she loves nothing more than raising her leg and licking her own 'minge.'"
Earlier in his address to a room full of Hollywood elite he suggested everyone should be "terrified" of journalist and son of Woody Allen Ronan Farrow.
"He's coming for you," says Gervais about the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who helped break the Harvey Weinstein story.
The comedian concluded his monologue by criticising corporate giants Amazon, Disney, and Apple, who all have streaming services.
This year's ceremony awards mark the fifth time the comedian has hosted the awards.
Check out the Herald's live coverage of The Golden Globes here.
