Home TV News Brendan Fraser Gets Brutally Candid About His Golden Globe Opinions

Brendan Fraser gets brutally honest about his Golden Globe nomination, saying a win “wouldn’t be meaningful” to him given his history with the HFPA.

Brendan Fraser gets brutally honest about his Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in The Whale. Fraser has been vocally outspoken against the Golden Globe Awards and its governing organization, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, since 2018, when he alleged the then-HFPA president Philip Berk sexually assaulted him at a luncheon in 2003. This year, Fraser was nominated for his first Golden Globe for his role in the critically acclaimed psychological drama The Whale, but lost to Austin Butler for Elvis. Fraser did not attend the award ceremony.
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In an interview with Howard Stern’s SiriusXM talk show, Fraser gets candid about his Golden Globe nomination, saying he never asked to be considered for the award. The actor says his nomination, which has been his first and only recognition by the Golden Globes, seems “cynical,” and that the award wouldn’t actually be meaningful to him because of his history with the HFPA. Rather than a nomination, if the Golden Globes wanted to make amends for their actions, Fraser says they would “issue an apology that made sense” and “share the investigation that they did into me and my family and my friends.” Read Fraser’s full statement below:

I found myself wondering is this a cynical nomination. I couldn’t really tell because of my history with them and that I still have yet to see the results from their reformation. We all are still awaiting that, to tell you the truth. Get it or don’t get it, doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it would mean nothing to me. I don’t want it. I didn’t ask to be considered even, that was presumed. I know that would displease many people for lots of reasons, but…They needed me, I didn’t need them. Because it wouldn’t be meaningful to me. Where am I gonna put that hood ornament? What would I do with that? It’s my fight, no one else’s, I don’t need everyone to stand in solidarity with me. It would be meaningful — if they wanted to make amends — to issue an apology that made sense … that they share the investigation that they did into me and my family and my friends — I never saw the result of that report. They wouldn’t give it to me, they said no it’s ours. So whatever’s in it they don’t want me to read it. Instead I was given a press release that said it was a joke.

Related: Yes, Brendan Fraser’s The Whale Performance Really Is That Good

Brendan Fraser’s History With The Golden Globes

In 2018, Fraser addressed the alleged sexual assault from Berk in clear, open terms, saying the incident, in combination with his divorce and the death of his mother, launched him into a deep depression, which stalled his career for several years. Both Fraser and media outlets have speculated that his allegations led to Berk attempting to blacklisting the actor from Hollywood, also impacting his career. Berk has denied that the sexual assault ever happened, as well as any attempted retaliation against Fraser.

In response to the allegations, the HFPA gave a press release stating that “although it was concluded that Mr. Berk inappropriately touched Mr. Fraser, the evidence supports that it was intended to be taken as a joke and not as a sexual advance.” Fraser says that the organization conducted an in-depth investigation into the incident, involving him, his friends, and his family members. However, the HFPA refused to give him access to the final report, and he was only ever given the official press release.

If Fraser’s nomination for The Whale truly was the Golden Globes’ way of trying to make amends, he has ever right to feel angry and disenfranchised by the move. While the HFPA admitted that Fraser was the victim of sexual abuse by the then-president, the organization wrote it off as a joke, offered no sincere apology, and refused to release the results of their investigation into the incident. The actor says it best in his comment: if the Hollywood Foreign Press Association wants to make amends, a Golden Globes Best Actor nomination is a pretty meaningless way to do it.

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Source: SiriusXM