After being slammed in the past for its lack of diverse cultural representation, the Golden Globes bounced back with a vengeance Tuesday night (January 10) – not only boasting a slew of performers of color nabbing major awards but also putting the cherry on top by appointing openly gay, African American comedian Jerrod Carmichael to serve as host.
And while many are celebrating the positive steps the Globes have taken toward diversity and inclusion, others are wagging their fingers at the comic for inappropriate and distasteful jokes – particularly one aimed at the late Pop icon Whitney Houston.
Details inside.
At first, the 35-year-old-comedian was praised for the awkward laughs he garnered when he addressed the Globes’ diversity scandal – one of many controversial race-related jokes he cracked throughout the night.
“I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’m here because I’m Black,” Carmichael said. “This show, the Golden Globe Awards, did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — which I won’t say were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died [in 2020]. So do with that information what you will.”
And though his commentary ranged on everything from Scientology to the uproar around Kanye West‘s anti-Semitic remarks in 2022, jaws dropped when Jerrod referenced the death of Whitney.
“Coming to you from the Beverly Hills Hotel, the hotel that killed Whitney Houston,” Carmichael relayed to the shocked audience (as seen in the video above).
Longtime fans of the Pop diva – outraged by Carmichael’s statement – know she died at the Beverly Hilton on February 11, 2012. Taking to Twitter in droves, look below to see how people responded to the ill-received joke.
At writing, Carmichael nor organizers of the 2023 Golden Globes have responded to the hoopla.