Hollywood Desperately Tries To Woo Brendan Fraser, Nominates Him For Golden Globes Award Despite ‘The Mummy’ Star Publicly Abandoning Them
It is not a surprise that Brendan Fraser has been nominated for a Golden Globe award. The actor’s role in the 2022 flick The Whale has been highly extolled and praised. People are even calling it Fraser’s “comeback role”.
However, despite that, The Mummy actor will not be going to grace the award ceremony. Fraser has a bad history with the organization (Hollywood Foreign Press Association or HFPA) behind the award show. And he has vowed to boycott the award ceremony on the claim that the organization’s former president Philip Berk had sexually assaulted him in 2003. And although the allegations were denied by Berk, he was expelled as a voting member of the organization back in 2021 over a different issue.
Brendan Fraser’s History With Golden Globe Awards
In a 2018 GQ interview, Brendan Fraser revealed that he had been a victim of sexual assault back in 2003. According to him, the perpetrator was none other than the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Phillip Berk. The organization is responsible for the Golden Globe Awards ceremony. The Mummy actor shared in the interview what exactly went down saying,
“His [Berk’s] left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint”
And just after that incident, Fraser said “I felt ill. I felt like a little kid”. The actor also added that he had felt “miserable” and had even “blamed himself“. However, the allegations were denied by Berk. He did write a written apology to Fraser but only due to the pressure from the actor’s reps. And also in that same year, an investigation was conducted by HFPA itself.
Unfortunately for Fraser, the allegations were concluded with the inappropriate touches being considered a joke and not a sexual advance. On top of that Berk even claimed the allegations by Fraser were “a complete fabrication” in a 2018 GQ interview.
Brendan Fraser Would Not Be Attending the Golden Globes
This year Brendan Fraser returned to the big screen with Darren Aronofsky’s film The Whale. His role as an obese English professor has been highly-applauded by critics and fans. The actor even received a 6-minute standing ovation during the screening of the movie at the Venice International Film Festival. And he has been nominated for a golden globe award which will be held on the 10th of January next year. Unfortunately due to his history with the award ceremony’s organization (Hollywood Foreign Press Association), the actor will not be joining it.
A month ago Fraser explained his reason for not participating in the Golden Globes in a GQ interview. He said, “It’s because of the history that I have with them”. Also Besides the sexual assault allegation, the HFPA has also come under fire for lack of diversity and other issues since. And even though Fraser has pledged to boycott the award ceremony, the HFPA will go on with the show. Last time, the ceremony was dropped by NBC and therefore it did not get aired. However this time, the HFPA has pledged reforms and will have the ceremony in 2023.
The Whale starring Brendan Fraser was released on the 9th of December and is playing in theatres currently.
Source: New York Post
