The 83rd Golden Globe Awards took place over the weekend with plenty of jokes at the expense of the actors in attendance.
Comedian Nikki Glaser was chosen as the host of the ceremony, where she fired off about Leonardo DiCaprio’s history of dating younger women, Nicole Kidman’s appearance in a promo video, and an even more foul joke about “Sinners” lead star Michael B. Jordan.
Jordan played twin characters Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore in the Ryan Coogler-directed horror, which scored seven Golden Globe nominations this year, including a Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama nod for himself.
Glaser, 41, used part of her opening monologue on Jan 11 to humorously reveal her private feelings about Jordan, 38, who was seated inside The Beverly Hilton hotel alongside his mother, Donna Jordan, who joined him as his plus-one for the evening.
“Michael B. Jordan is nominated tonight for Best Actor. So good,” Glaser stated to loud applause from the audience. “In ‘Sinners,’ Michael played two brothers… Am I allowed to say that? He played twins.”
“Sinners” scored seven Golden Globe nominations this year, including a Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama nod for Jordan. The Newark, New Jersey native
The “Trainwreck” actress then delivered a racy punchline by adding, “I can’t believe it. We got two Michael B. Jordans. When I saw that, I was like, Nikki B. Jerkin’, because that was awesome.”
At that moment, the television cameras cut to Jordan’s table. While the man crowned People magazine’s 2020 Sexiest Man Alive lowered his head and snickered in his hands, his mother quickly lifted her glass to take a sip and appeared to cut her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Michael,” Glaser said after noticing Donna seemed uncomfortable with her quip. However, she kept the wisecracks coming by sarcastically saying, “Why did I make that joke? I know your mom. I’m so sorry. I should not have said that to you. That should have been a DM. My mistake.”
Glaser’s playful interaction with the Jordans left a mark on Golden Globe viewers, with Donna’s viral reaction becoming one of the most talked-about memes of the night.
“Momma wasn’t feeling that joke,” one social media user posted. Another on X jokingly wrote, “Expected reaction from a Black mother.”
A third person simply exclaimed, “Her face!” One tweet fired at Glaser’s comedic skills read, “Yet to find a single funny joke she said today.”
“Why is this accepted? Dude, imagine a dude saying [something] like this? They’d never be [cast] for anything ever again,” another Glaser critic complained.
Another said, “Michael B. Jordan is like ‘have you lost your mind? My mom is right here.'”
The conversation over Glaser’s comedic admission about Jordan also played out on other apps like Instagram. One commenter wrote, “His mom was looking like this is not what you want.”
“I thought we was about [to] see another Will Smith!!” expressed an Instagram user, referring to Oscar-winning actor Smith infamously slapping comedian Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony that became a trending topic online for weeks.
Jordan has been very open about his close relationship with his mother. The former teen idol has made it a tradition to invite Donna to walk red carpets with him throughout his career in Hollywood.
Before the two strutted together in front of the media at this year’s Golden Globes, Jordan took his mom as his date to the 2019 Academy Awards, after starring in Coogler’s “Black Panther” superhero masterpiece, which was up for seven honors that night.
“My mom is everything to me,” Jordan confessed in a 2015 interview, per Acting Magazine. “She always supported me and encouraged me to go for my dreams. She’s the one who took me to auditions when I was young and made sure I had everything I needed to pursue acting.”
In 2023, Jordan was part of another risque public experience that apparently left his mother clutching her pearls. “The Wire” alum became the face of Calvin Klein’s Spring/Summer 2023 campaign by posing in his underwear, so he felt the need to offer Donna an apology for the skin-showing photos.
“I was like, my mama gon’ have to see this. Let me call her and be like, ‘I’m sorry. It’s out here,” the lead actor of the “Creed” franchise told “Entertainment Tonight.” “My business all out in the streets — literally.”
The 2026 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards also saw Jordan and Donna pose for photographers on the show’s red carpet. He was also up for Best Actor at that event but lost to “Marty Supreme” star Timothée Chalamet.
Jordan’s later defeat at the 2026 Golden Globes came as a shock to some cinephiles. His performance in “Sinners” was not enough to win the “Best Male Actor” trophy over Wagner Moura for “The Secret Agent.”
The Best Actor race at the upcoming Oscars is expected to be a tight contest between Jordan, Chalamet, Moura, and “One Battle After Another” actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The full list of nominations for the 98th Academy Awards will be announced on Jan. 22.
