The 80th edition of the coveted Golden Globes ran into controversy after several social media users claimed that the award winners of foreign origin were cut off mid-speech with the background music during the live telecast of the award ceremony. Michelle Yeoh, who won the award for actress in a motion picture — musical or comedy, asked the musicians to shut up when they played the cue mid-speech.
Yeoh Threatened to Beat Up Musicians
Yeoh, who received the award for "Everything Everywhere All at Once," spoke about her journey during the acceptance speech. "I'm just gonna stand here and take this all in. Forty years, not letting go of this. It's been an amazing journey and incredible fight to be here today, but I think it's been worth it," she said. "I remember when I first came to Hollywood, it was a dream come true until I got here. Because, look at this face, I came here and was told, 'You're a minority.' And I'm like, 'No, that's not possible.'"
Yeoh continued, "And then someone said to me, 'You speak English.' I mean, forget about them not knowing Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Asia, India... And then I said, 'Yeah, the flight here was about 13 hours long, so, I learned.'" The actor said that she turned 60 years old last year and noted that "as the days, the years and the numbers get bigger, it seems like opportunities start to get smaller as well."
Yeoh said she was about to give up after having "had a really, really good run" working with Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Danny Boyle, "then along came the best gift — Everything Everywhere All at Once."
The music then started playing mid-speech prompting Yeoh to threaten the musicians. "Shut up, please. I can beat you up, OK? And that's serious," she said.
Social Media Reacts
Another artist who bore the brunt was RRR's MM Keeravani who won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song this year for the song Naatu Naatu. The background music started playing mid speech, ruthlessly taking away Keeravani's moment of glory.
The cast and crew of Argentina, 1985 - Golden Globe winners for Best Foreign Film this year – were also forced off stage in between their acceptance speech.
The social media users blasted the Golden Globes for being biased and cutting the artists mid-speech. "Holy shit, add more time in to your show #GoldenGlobes. You've literally played music for everyone. It's more embarrassing for you. Especially when you cut off BIPOC folks who haven't had the platform before," tweeted a user.
"Really Hollywood Foreign Press Association & @goldenglobes? After the diversity controversy that almost had you all on the rails & that's how you show everyone on earth you've 'learned your lesson'? By attempting to cut off the acceptance speech of an Asian actress? Nice going," read another tweet.
"Who organizes the show really needs to give each winner the same amount of time for their speech. Plus, they also need to be more respectful towards the foreign language winners because they get cut off too fast and it's their only chance to be on stage. #GoldenGlobes," opined a user.
