Natalie Portman and Ron Howard had a difficult task, following Oprah Winfrey’s instantly legendary acceptance speech for the Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award to give out the Best Director prize. How to follow up a rallying cry for greater treatment of women that so perfectly summarized the importance of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements?
If you’re Howard, you make a joke about how emotional it was and press on. And if you’re Portman, you effortlessly, succinctly drag the f*ck out of the irony of the situation.
“Here are the all male nominees,” Portman said as they began to introduce the Globes’ five male nominees for best director.
Ron Howard: “We are honored … to be here to present the award for best director.”
Natalie Portman, done with this shit: “And here are the all-male nominees.” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8JboypiADo
— David Mack (@davidmackau) January 8, 2018
The nominees, including eventual winner Guillermo Del Toro, looked rather speechless as Howard and Portman read their names. (Howard looked pretty embarrassed, too.) Twitter exploded with appropriate glee.
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natalie portman came out after oprah and was like “NOT THE FUCK TODAY, RON HOWARD”
— #BrittanySpanos (@ohheybrittany) January 8, 2018
If everyone doesn’t follow Natalie Portman’s lead on “here are the all male nominees!” forever then I don’t even know what we’re doing here #GoldenGlobes
— Caroline Framke (@carolineframke) January 8, 2018
Natalie Portman presenting Best Director pic.twitter.com/0MkjhMwG2w
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) January 8, 2018
Female directors like Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Dee Rees (Mudbound), and Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) were all ignored by the Globes, resulting in a category that felt tone-deaf at a time when the film and TV industries have been reckoning with their treatment of women in the past and present.
For Portman, it seemed, enough was enough. In reacting, she gave us a drag for the record books.