Why Best Actor nominee Brendan Fraser isn't at the 2023 Golden Globes
True to his word, celebrated actor Brendan Fraser skipped the 2023 Golden Globes ceremony despite being nominated for his critically lauded performance in Darren Aronofsky's The Whale.
The 54-year-old Hollywood veteran has a complicated history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the journalist collective that bestows the Golden Globes annually. In a 2018 GQ profile, the Mummy franchise star accused Philip Berk, a former president and member of the HFPA, of groping and assaulting him in 2003. (Berk has denied the allegation.)
In November 2022, Fraser told the publication he wouldn't attend the 2023 Golden Globes over the alleged incident.
Karwai Tang/WireImage; Frazer Harrison/Getty Brendan Fraser
"I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association," he said. "No, I will not participate."
He added, "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."
After the initial GQ piece was published, the HFPA issued a statement: "The HFPA stands firmly against sexual harassment and the type of behavior described in this article," it read. Fraser said the group never offered an apology, though the HFPA denied that, with GQ reporting that the organization indicated that they apologized twice. (EW previously reached out to the HFPA for comment.)
Fraser — who received standout praise this awards season for his performance as a dying professor in The Whale — told GQ that the HFPA came to him to propose a joint statement that he recalled would read: "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 ultimately did not sign the statement.
Berk remained a member of the HFPA until 2021, when he was ousted from the group after emailing an article to his peers that called Black Lives Matter a "racist hate movement." The HFPA later endured another scandal when a 2021 Los Angeles Times exposé reported that the group contained no Black members among its voting ranks, prompting NBC to suspend its telecast for the 2022 awards season. A coalition of 102 publicity firms also released a joint statement vowing not to work with the organization until it took action for equity.
See the full list of 2023 Golden Globes winners.
Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best films.
Related content:
