Brendan Fraser Won't Attend Golden Globes: 'My Mother Didn't Raise a Hypocrite'
Brendan Fraser will not attend the 2023 Golden Globe Awards, he announced on Wednesday. Fraser is getting rave reviews for his performance in The Whale and many expect him to be nominated throughout award season, but he also accused the former Hollywood Foreign Press Association president of sexually assaulting him. In an interview with GQ this week, he said he has not received an apology from the HFPA to this day, so he will be boycotting their award show.
Fraser is having a bit of a comeback as an actor and as a cultural icon right now – thanks in large part to his performance in The Whale, which premieres in theaters everywhere on Dec. 9. Fraser's career slowed for a time in the early 2000s, and he later alleged that this was due in part to the depression he suffered after then-HFPA president Philip Berk sexually assaulted him in 2003. Now that he is back in the headlines and receiving some of the best reviews of his career, Fraser said he still won't attend the Golden Globes until the HFPA addresses his allegations against Berk.
"I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association," he said in GQ's new cover story. "No, I will not participate... It's because of the history that I have with them. And my mother didn't raise a hypocrite. You can call me a lot of things, but not that."
Fraser first took his allegations against Berk public in 2018 in another profile with GQ. At the time, he said that Berk groped him aggressively and forcefully. Berk denied the allegations, and the HFPA generally declined to comment on it except to condemn sexual assault in general. Berk remained a voting member of the HFPA until 2021 when he was removed for a separate issue.
Fraser said this week: "I knew they would close ranks. I knew they would kick the can down the road. I knew they would get ahead of the story. I knew that I certainly had no future with that system as it was."
The HFPA and the Golden Globes have been heavily criticized in recent years for separate reasons, including their lack of diversity. Many viewers on social media say they are simply no longer interested in the awards determined by 87 professional critics with friends in the entertainment industry. Regardless, the award show is scheduled to go on in 2023, with the nominees to be announced in a matter of weeks.
As for Fraser, he stars in The Whale written by Samuel D. Hunter and directed by Darren Aronofsky. The movie is a psychological drama about a 600-pound middle-aged man trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter. It has been lauded by critics since its premiere in September, and soon it will finally be available to general audiences. The movie premieres in theaters on Friday, Dec. 9.