Golden Globes 2020: Watch Ricky Gervais' Controversial Opening Monologue

Ricky Gervais got political during his opening monologue at the 77th Golden Globe Awards Sunday [...]

By Libby Birk

Ricky Gervais got political during his opening monologue at the 77th Golden Globe Awards Sunday night. Most notably, The Office creator told Hollywood to "f— off" in the first few expletive-laced minutes of the show, and also took jabs at Felicity Huffman and Jeffrey Epstein.

At the top of the annual ceremony at the Beverly Hilton, Gervais ended his monologue by telling the nominees: "So if you do win an award tonight, don't use it as a political platform to make a political speech. You're in no position to lecture the public about anything, you know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So, if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your God and f— off. OK?"

The curse word was beeped by NBC, as was his use of profanity in two other jokes: one where he called Cats' James Corden a "fat p—" and another where he discussed the same film's Judi Dench licking herself.

The monologue was also peppered with references to the #MeToo movement and other contemporary issues, starting off by noting that it was his fifth and final time hosting, going on to say that he didn't care what kind of backlash he'd get. Then he took at jab at last year's widespread college admissions scandal: "I came here in a limo tonight and the license plate was made by Felicity Huffman," he said, referring to her prison sentence.

He joked that the top film executives present at the ceremony "all have one thing in common: They're terrified of Ronan Farrow. He's coming for you, he's coming for you."

While arguing that the Globes were an old-fashioned awards show, saying that the ceremony should simply thank Netflix and get on with it, Gervais pointed out that he has a show on Netflix, Afterlife, about a man dying by suicide after his wife dies. "Spoiler alert, there's a season 2, so in the end, he didn't kill himself. Just like Jeffrey Epstein. Sorry, I know he's your friend," he joked.

Another Epstein joke came when Gervais brought up Quentin Tarantino's (nearly three-hour-long) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: "Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere, and by the end, his date was nearly too old for him. Even Prince Andrew was like, 'C'mon, mate.'"

He also discussed the irony of a #MeToo-themed show like Apple TV+'s The Morning Show having been "made by a company who runs sweatshops in China. You say you're woke, but ... if ISIS started a streaming service you'd call your agent."

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