The big moment at last night’s Golden Globes, and an early contender for best moment of 2018, was when Oprah Winfrey accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award—the Golden Globes’ lifetime achievement prize—and gave a moving and rousing speech about empowerment and change and what lies ahead in the bright future. It was the kind of come-together-as-one-to-fight-badness speech we’ve all been longing to hear since, oh, November 2016 or so. Winfrey’s speech was so powerful that it was presidential—reflecting the long-standing rumors that Oprah could and should run for president one day. Golden Globes host Seth Meyers even suggested it in his opening monologue.
After that speech, most everyone in that theater was in tears, as were most viewers at home, too, or on their feet, ready to change the world and eliminate injustice, doubt, and the toxic patriarchy for good. But alas, the show must go on! The Golden Globes weren’t over, and producers didn’t even cut to a commercial after Oprah’s remarkable speech. They were running behind as it was, which meant bring out the next presenters to swiftly present the next award. Who got to follow Oprah, giving the most important speech in a generation? Legendary film director and Arrested Development narrator Ron Howard, and Academy Award-winning megastar Natalie Portman.
Howard acknowledged his unenviable task, stammering and chuckling and allowing for the applause to die down. Portman, however, stood calmly…and just waited. She had something planned, you could just tell. After the announcement that they were there to present the Golden Globe for the best director of a film, Portman called back to Oprah, as well as the theme of the evening—ending the toxic, systemic, abusive exclusion of women. Before announcing the actual nominees, Portman said, “And here are the all male nominees.”
Natalie Portman called out the fact that no women were nominated for Best Director tonight pic.twitter.com/mswFBaTg4r
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) January 8, 2018
The crowd descended into a mixture of appreciative cheers, pointed laughs, and groans.