In a deeply embarrassing sign of our times, the annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony kicked off this past weekend not only without an audience, but without even a broadcast.
After Hollywood figures and broadcast networks distanced themselves from the Globes following a sweeping Los Angeles Times exposé last February which uncovered details about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's shady practices and lack of non-White members, the ceremony went Twitter-only for 2022.
And boy howdy, was it an unmitigated mess.
Starting with, but not limited to, the ceremony's tweets about Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story, which the Globes seemed to not realize is a musical and not a comedy.
The ceremony deleted the tweet in question, but naturally a million screenshots were banked beforehand.
See the deeply cringe tweet below.
This tweet is the funniest thing to ever happen in the history of the world.pic.twitter.com/1fRO9Mljj4— Kevin Daly (@Kevin Daly) 1641785717
Spielberg's take on West Side Story swept several major categories at the Globes this weekend, nabbing awards for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, Best Director, and one of the ceremony's two most prestigious awards, Best Musical or Comedy Picture.
Unfortunately, the person at the helm of the Globes' Twitter feed didn't know which half of that category applied to West Side Story. They tweeted:
"If laughter is the best medicine, [West Side Story] is the cure for what ails you. Congrats on the [Golden Globe] for Best Picture--Musical or Comedy."
Yikes. Sure, not everybody's a musicals person, but West Side Story is one of the most iconic musicals--both on Broadway and in cinema--of all time. Shouldn't that be common knowledge for the people behind one of the industry's biggest awards?
Yes, it should--which is probably why the Globes deleted the tweet and reposted it with the word "music" swapped for "laughter" which... only made the whole thing funnier.
You know the old saying, \u201cMusic is the best medicine"https://twitter.com/goldenglobes/status/1480386107607076866\u00a0\u2026— Allen Kenney (@Allen Kenney) 1641788234
But it didn't stop there: They also posted a very weirdly worded tweet, seen below, about Best Supporting Actress winner Ariana DeBose that for some reason quoted the song "Lean on Me"... which not only isn't in West Side Story (or any other musicals, for that matter) but hadn't even been written yet when West Side Story was composed.
Tell me you haven't seen WEST SIDE STORY without telling me you haven't seen WEST SIDE STORY.pic.twitter.com/NxKh0PrOpe— Scott Tobias (@Scott Tobias) 1641785580
Taken all together, people couldn't help but wonder just exactly what on Earth was going on over at Globes HQ.
Even the Golden Globes tweet-bot is drunk and corrupt, you've got to respect the brand consistency— Emily Nussbaum (@Emily Nussbaum) 1641788102
The Twitter Golden Globes were really on brandpic.twitter.com/hefiS2EAmz— Shannon O'Connor (@Shannon O'Connor) 1641788257
pic.twitter.com/7p220z7KwE— Richard Lawson (@Richard Lawson) 1641786417
I literally just had a full mental breakdown at the fact they just changed laughter to music. I can\u2019t catch my breath. Is this a panic attack?https://twitter.com/goldenglobes/status/1480386107607076866\u00a0\u2026— Myles McNutt (@Myles McNutt) 1641786899
As embarrassing as things have been for the Golden Globes and HFPA, I have to hand it to them for somehow amplifying the embarrassment further thanks to their weird-ass Twitter feed tonight.— Jen Chaney (@Jen Chaney) 1641786325
the golden globes right nowpic.twitter.com/DrxgfEi9Xj— karen han (@karen han) 1641784539
"Lean on me," that famous song from west side storyhttps://twitter.com/goldenglobes/status/1480360597980127241\u00a0\u2026— Hillary Busis (@Hillary Busis) 1641780622
https://twitter.com/goldenglobes/status/1480380898029752324\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/fJ3gUGNRKI— The Playlist (@The Playlist) 1641786511
They deleted their best tweetpic.twitter.com/0jndVvyxne— Kyle Buchanan (@Kyle Buchanan) 1641787526
If this was all done purposefully, the Globes might be onto something. When was the last time you enjoyed a Golden Globes telecast as much as you enjoyed these bonkers tweets?