Brendan Fraser Won't Be at Golden Globes for a Heartbreaking Reason
The Whale's Brendan Fraser has good reason to boycott the 80th Golden Globes.
Neither the Hollywood Foreign Press Association nor its former president have apologized to the actor following his allegations of sexual harassment.
The star of Darren Aronofsky's The Whale is currently on a winning streak, picking up best actor nomination after best actor nomination.
Critics say the role of a morbidly obese professor has even earned Brendan Fraser a best actor nomination at the 2023 Oscars. But there's one ceremony Fraser would never attend, nominated or not. The Golden Globe Awards, closely associated with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, is the one ceremony the actor would feel hypocritical about attending, he told GQ.
The reason for this statement is that Fraser has a history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Back in 2018, the actor opened up to GQ about the time he was subjected to sexual harassment by Philip Berk, a former president and member of the HFPA.
According to the actor, it was a truly terrifying experience that left him depressed and miserable. The response from both Berk and the HFPA was outrageous.
Berk denied the allegation and the HFPA approached Fraser with an offer to sign a statement saying that the groping was just a joke gone wrong on Berk's part. Naturally, Fraser refused to sign the humiliating statement.
Although the allegation didn't elicit a strong reaction from Hollywood, the public and friends supported the actor, which helped him get some closure. However, these things never go unnoticed and Fraser still finds it difficult to talk about.
The HFPA's reaction doesn't help. Apart from a self-justifying statement, the organisation did nothing about the allegation and never even apologised properly to the actor. Berk remained a member of the HFPA until 2021, when he was finally expelled for sharing a racist article.
Fraser is not the first person to hold a grudge against the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The organization found itself in the middle of a scandal (via LA Times) when it turned out that there was not a single Black member among its voters.
Spurred on by the public outcry, the HFPA has taken action, doubling its membership and adding voters from diverse backgrounds. But Fraser remains sceptical about the sincerity of these actions, remembering how the HFPA handled his situation.
"I would want some gesture of making medicine out of poison somehow," the actor said.