Entertainment

Meryl Streep's Trump broadside tops memorable Golden Globes moments

Though the free-flowing booze and weird crowd shots typically define the Golden Globes, this year's show took a decidedly more political tone as several winners spent their speech time bad-mouthing Donald Trump.

'Disrespect invites disrespect,' Streep blasts president-elect without mentioning him by name

Meryl Streep was given the Cecil B. DeMille Award during the awards. She spent much of her speech speaking out about president-elect Donald Trump. (Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

Though the free-flowing booze and weird crowd shots typically define the Golden Globes, this year's show took a decidedly more political tone as several winners spent their speech time bad-mouthing president-elect Donald Trump.

The fiery rebukes were among the most memorable moments during Sunday's Jimmy Fallon-hosted awards show, which saw the musical La La Land dominate, taking home seven trophies.

And though it got off to a shaky start, the show mostly stuck on schedule — clocking in a mere four minutes past its scheduled 11 p.m. ET end time. The Oscars it ain't.

If you didn't stay up to watch, here are the big moments you missed.

Streep calls out Trump's 'performance'

Though Meryl Streep was being feted with the Cecil B. DeMille Award — the Golden Globes' version of a lifetime achievement prize — it was Trump's "performance" she couldn't stop talking about. Particularly when he seemed to mock a reporter with a disability during a November 2015 speech — something Trump denied doing.

"It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can't get it out of my head, because it wasn't in a movie. It was real life," she told the room full of celebrities, who had fallen silent. "Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose."

Meryl Streep accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards with a vigorous defence of her colleagues in Hollywood. (Paul Drinkwater/NBC via AP)

Streep never actually used Trump's name during her speech, referring to him as "he." But it was clear who the actress was talking about as she blasted some of the president-elect's policies.

"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if we kick them all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."

Trump responded on Monday morning via Twitter, calling Streep "over-rated" and a "flunky" of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Trump also denied he had "mocked" New York Times investigative reporter Serge Kovaleski and said such claims are the work of "dishonest media."  

Golden Globes 'still honours the popular vote' 

It wasn't just Streep who had words for Trump though. The insults started flying moments after the ceremony began. Fallon likened Trump to Game of Thrones villain Joffrey Baratheon and poked fun at the election results.

"This is the Golden Globes, one of the few places left where America still honours the popular vote," he said to laughs.

Actor Hugh Laurie also chimed in, while accepting his trophy for best supporting actor in a TV movie or limited series for The Night Manager.

"I won this at the last ever Golden Globes," he deadpanned. "I don't mean to be gloomy. It's just that it has the words Hollywood, foreign and press in the title."

Hidden Figures or Hidden Fences?

For some reason, Hidden Figures, the film about three African American women working at NASA, caused a lot of confusion.

When actor Michael Keaton was announcing the nominees for best supporting actress, he mistakenly called the movie Hidden Fences.

That's after NBC correspondent (and George W. Bush's daughter) Jenna Bush Hager made the same flub hours earlier on the red carpet, telling an unimpressed best original score nominee Pharrell that he was nominated for Hidden Fences.

Twitter users caught on quick, devising potential summaries for the fake film. 

Why the mistake was made not once but twice is unclear. There was another nominated film called Fences which starred Denzel Washington and Viola Davis (for which she picked up best supporting actress). But maybe both just had actual fences on the mind.

Monologue 'sabotaged' by faulty prompter

A host's opening monologue is supposed to set the tone for the show. But Fallon was forced to improvise it when his teleprompter stopped working as soon as the live portion of the awards began.

"Already the teleprompter's down so this is a great way to start the show," he told the crowd.

When he wasn't making fun of Trump, Golden Globes host Jimmy Fallon was doing impressions of celebrities like comedian Chris Rock and musician Sting. (Paul Drinkwater/NBC via Associated Press)

The comedian awkwardly ad-libbed while another prompter was quickly brought in. He even made light of the situation later on in the show: "I just got off the phone with Mariah Carey and she thinks that Dick Clark Productions sabotaged my monologue."

The company produced both the Golden Globes and Carey's trainwreck New Year's Eve performance.

Canadian beats Canadian

It was a nice night to be Canadian. During her speech, Streep gave a shout out to the country, saying "all the nicest people" are Canadian.

And there was a good chance a Canuck was going to win in the best actor — comedy or musical category, which pitted London, Ont.'s Ryan Gosling (La La Land) against Vancouver's Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool).

Gosling ended up taking the honours, prodding Reynolds in his acceptance speech: "This isn't the first time I've been mistaken for Ryan Reynolds. It's getting out of hand."

Reynolds' consolation prize was a big smooch from seatmate Andrew Garfield as Gosling took the stage to give his speech.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Haydn Watters is a roving reporter for Here and Now, CBC Toronto's afternoon radio show. He has worked for the CBC in Halifax, Yellowknife, Ottawa, Hamilton and Toronto, with stints at the politics bureau and entertainment unit. He ran an experimental one-person pop-up bureau for the CBC in Barrie, Ont. You can get in touch at [email protected].