An honor to be nominated? Brendan Fraser skipped the 2023 Golden Globes on Tuesday, January 10, after accusing former HFPA president Philip Berk of assault.
Fraser, 54, was nominated for Greatest Actor in a Movement Image – Drama for his efficiency in The Whale, marking the primary Golden Globe nod of his profession. Nonetheless, the Indiana native informed GQ forward of the awards present that he wouldn’t attend if invited. (The trophy went to Elvis star Austin Butler.)
“I’ve extra historical past with the Hollywood Overseas Press Affiliation than I’ve respect for the Hollywood Overseas Press Affiliation,” Fraser stated in November 2022, one month earlier than nominations have been introduced. “No, I cannot take part.”
He continued: “It’s due to the historical past that I’ve with them. And my mom didn’t increase a hypocrite. You’ll be able to name me a number of issues, however not that.”
Throughout a 2018 interview with the identical publication, Fraser alleged that he was groped by Berk, now 89, at a 2003 luncheon on the Beverly Hills Resort in California. “I felt ailing. I felt like a bit of child. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I believed I used to be going to cry,” the Mummy actor claimed. “I felt like somebody had thrown invisible paint on me.”
Brendan Fraser A24
Fraser confessed that he didn’t have “the braveness to talk up” after the alleged incident occurred “for danger of humiliation or injury to my profession.” He added: “I didn’t wish to take care of how that made me really feel, or it turning into a part of my narrative.”
Berk, a longtime member of the Hollywood Overseas Press Affiliation, denied Fraser’s accusations, arguing in an electronic mail to GQ that they have been “a complete fabrication.”
Whereas reflecting on the expertise 15 years later, the George of the Jungle actor stated he started in charge himself for what occurred — and even questioned whether or not he had been blacklisted by the HFPA. “I turned depressed. … I used to be depressing — as a result of I used to be saying, ‘That is nothing; this man reached round and he copped a really feel,’” he recalled. “[It] made me retreat. It made me really feel reclusive.”
Berk served eight phrases as HFPA president and was a member of the group for 44 years. In April 2021, he was expelled after emailing an article to fellow members describing Black Lives Matter as a “racist hate motion,” per The Hollywood Reporter.
The HFPA was already in sizzling water following a February 2021 Los Angeles Occasions exposé detailing alleged misconduct and variety points. In response to the investigation’s findings on the time, the voting physique didn’t have any Black members. The group went on to rent a variety specialist, however the 2022 Golden Globes weren’t televised amid the controversy. (NBC confirmed in September 2022 that the 2023 awards present would return to the air with a one-year deal.)
Regardless of his ups and downs with the business insiders, Fraser’s flip in The Whale has helped him make a Hollywood comeback. The December 2022 drama was directed by Darren Aronofsky and likewise stars Stranger Issues actress Sadie Sink.
The A24 movie follows Charlie (Fraser), a morbidly overweight and reclusive English professor who makes an attempt to reconnect along with his estranged daughter (Sink) after eight years aside. Whereas some critics have praised Fraser’s efficiency — he gained a major quantity of weight to play Charlie and wore a fats go well with — others have argued that the film stigmatizes weight problems.
