Brendan Fraser Won’t Attend Golden Globes For ‘The Whale’ After 2003 Groping Incident By Ex-HFPA Chief

Greg Evans
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Brendan Fraser won’t be celebrating his acclaimed performance in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale at this year’s Golden Globes, whether he’s nominated or not.

“My mother didn’t raise a hypocrite,” Fraser says in a new interview with GQ, referencing his 2018 revelation that he had been groped by former HFPA president Philip Berk at a 2003 Beverly Hills luncheon. (Berk denied the charge.)

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In the new GQ cover story, Fraser says, “I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. No, I will not participate… It’s because of the history that I have with them. And my mother didn’t raise a hypocrite. You can call me a lot of things, but not that.”

Fraser has been receiving widespread acclaim for his role in The Whale, which A24 releases to theaters Dec. 9. Deadline critic Damon Wise called Fraser’s performance “incredibly soulful.”

In the 2018 article, Fraser said he regretted not speaking earlier about the 2003 incident, noting, “It’s about being stripped of your identity, and of a power play being pulled to tamp it down, and being sort of backhandedly complicit in it by keeping quiet, entering into an agreement that you won’t talk.” He said the experience left him feeling as if “something had been taken away from me.”

The HFPA said at the time that the organization ““The HFPA “stands firmly against sexual harassment and the type of behavior described in this article.”

Golden Globes nominations will be announced Dec. 12, and the awards ceremony will air on NBC Jan. 10.

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