Yes, Donald Trump has the power to ruin a major awards ceremony without even being there.
According to the Associated Press, the mood of the Golden Globes ceremony which takes place on Sunday could be ruined by Trump simply due to the fact that he won the election. Dozens of high paid celebrities are in danger of having being completely bummed out simply by the existence of Trump as you can see in the title of their report: WILL HOLLYWOOD BE IN THE MOOD TO PARTY AT GOLDEN GLOBES?
On Sunday, the movie industry will gather for the Golden Globes, which are regularly one of the most freewheeling and frothiest award shows of the year. Champagne will flow. Punchlines will fly.
But the tone of this year's ceremony may be different, and not just because it will be the first time in nearly a decade that someone other than Ricky Gervais or the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler duo is hosting.
Jimmy Fallon will emcee this year's show, to be broadcast live from Beverly Hills, Calif., by NBC at 8 p.m. EST Sunday. But the transition on the minds of Hollywood is the one taking place in Washington on January 20. The election of Donald Trump has loomed over this year's awards season, where the movie industry's usual self-congratulatory toasting has been mixed with a foreboding sense of dread.
I sort of like the idea that their foreboding sense of dread will ruin the self-congratulatory celebrity party.
"We are living in very troubled times," Kenneth Lonergan, writer and director of one of the season's favorites, "Manchester by the Sea," said Wednesday at the National Board of Review Awards. "How troubled, we don't know yet. It's going to be a lot of trouble, or it might be bad trouble like we've never seen."
Such speeches have been commonplace throughout the litany of awards that lead up, ultimately, to the Feb. 26 Academy Awards.
At Tuesday's New York Film Critics Circle Awards, "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah compared the lauded "O.J.: Made in America" to the election: "another bad decision based on fame and race." At the Gotham Film Independent Film Awards in November, Damian Lewis archly intoned, "The film that receives the most votes ... is the winner. It's a brilliant idea," referring to Trump's loss of the popular vote.
Barry Jenkins, the writer-director of the tender coming-of-age tale "Moonlight," said at the National Board of Review Awards: "As we make America great again, let's remember some inconsiderable things in our legacy, because there was a time when someone like me was just not considered."
Fallon, who was criticized for what was considered a soft-ball interview of Trump on the "Tonight Show" during the campaign, isn't likely to set a very political tone for the evening. But speaking to The Hollywood Reporter , Fallon promised Trump jokes at what he called "the first and maybe the last party that we'll have in 2017."
It sure sounds like Jimmy Fallon is under pressure to apply very bitter humor against Trump or risk being treated as a pariah by the leftwing celebs.
The late-night host will also be trying to turn ratings back in a positive direction. Last year's ceremony, hosted by Gervais, drew 18.5 million viewers, down about 4 percent from the year before. Among the presenters on tap for the show, put on by the Hollywood Foreign Press, are Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Stone, Ben and Casey Affleck, Viola Davis, Amy Schumer, Sting and Matt Damon.
Ben Afflect, Amy Schumer, and Matt Damon. I am expecting entertaining political angst out of one or all of them. And just knowing that Donald Trump will be ruining their evening is even more incentive to watch their ruined mood.
Exit question: Will Trump add to their anger by tweeting about the Golden Globes in the middle of the show?
