The 78th-annual Golden Globe Awards was the latest awards ceremony to take place amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On Sunday, Feb. 28, attendees — with a significant portion attending virtually — gathered to celebrate some of Hollywood’s best film and television programming. The event was broadcast simultaneously at the Rainbow Room in Midtown Manhattan and the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, with comediennes Tina Fey and Amy Poehler serving as hosts.
The festivities got off to a glitchy start when actor Daniel Kaluuya was accidentally muted at the beginning of his acceptance speech. The British star won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture award for his role in the Shaka King-directed film “Judas and the Black Messiah.” The star harbored no hard feelings as he joked around, saying, “You’re doing me dirty,” after restoring the connection.
Kaluuya quoted late rapper Nipsey Hussle in his speech, stating, “’We are here to give until we are empty,’ and I gave everything.” He added, “I couldn’t give it to a more noble man — that’s chairman Fred Hampton — and I hope generations after this can see how brilliantly he fought, how brilliantly he spoke, and how brilliantly he loved.” Kaluuya noted that his role as the Black Panther leader helped him “grow as a man.”
Chadwick Boseman’s widow, Taylor Simone Ledward Boseman, accepted the actor’s posthumous award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama. Boseman, who passed away last August after a four-year largely private batter with colon cancer, won the accolade for his role in his last film, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
In a tearful acceptance speech, Ledward-Boseman expressed that her husband would’ve thanked God, his parents, and “his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifice.” The victory marked the actor’s first Golden Globe win.
Singer Andra Day won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama for her performance in Hulu’s “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” Day made history by becoming the second-ever Black actress to win that category and the first to do so in 35 years. Whoopi Goldberg was the first to snatch that trophy in 1986 for her work in “The Color Purple.”
Accepting the award virtually, Day highlighted her fellow nominees, noting that she was “in the presence of giants.” The 36-year-old also thanked everyone involved in the Lee Daniels’ bio-drama about the jazz singer. While talking to reporters after the event, Day acknowledged the importance of her win, stating, “The thing I take from Billi more than anything is the strength of a Black woman.” She added, “To know that the last person who won this award was Whoopi Goldberg in ‘The Color Purple’ is so not representative of how many Black women’s stories have been told sensationally and need to be told by the amazing talented actresses who do this.”
Day reigned supreme over her fellow nominees, including Viola Davis, who was up for her role in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and Carey Mulligan for her part in “Promising Young Woman.”
Other winners included John Boyega, who won Supporting Actor in Television for his role in “Small Axe,” and “Soul” took home the win for Motion Picture, Animated.
