Brendan Fraser has been collecting nominations this awards season for his stellar performance in The Whale, but there’s one he doesn’t care about: the Golden Globes.
The 54-year-old star was in contention for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama, which Austin Butler eventually won. However, Fraser did not attend the ceremony and later expressed support for Butler’s win.
The Bedazzled actor previously alleged that he was sexually assaulted by Philip Berk, the former President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which founded the Golden Globes. He said the assault happened in 2003 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show on Tuesday, Fraser discussed the Golden Globes, saying it might have been “a cynical nomination.”
“Get it or don't get it, doesn't matter,” he said. “What does matter is that it would mean nothing to me. I don't want it. I didn't ask to be considered even, that was presumed.”
The School Ties actor didn’t mince words, adding, “They needed me, I didn't need them. Because it wouldn't be meaningful to me. Where am I gonna put that hood ornament? What would I do with that?”
His boycott of the Golden Globes stemmed from the organization’s refusal to apologize to him over the sexual assault allegations. He previously said it happened during a luncheon, when Berk grabbed him in an inappropriate way.
He told Stern that it would be hypocritical of him to attend and not feel like he really wanted to be there. It would have been different, though, if the organization had only apologized.
“It would be meaningful — if they wanted to make amends — to issue an apology that made sense,” he continued. Instead, he said he never found out the result of the investigation that the HFPA conducted.
The organization only gave him a press release saying Berk did touch him but meant it as a joke and not a sexual advance. Berk was expelled from the HFPA in 2021 after calling the Black Lives Matter movement a “racist hate movement.”
Meanwhile, Fraser said he will be attending the Academy Awards in March, where he’s nominated for Best Actor. He previously won the same recognition at the Critics’ Choice Awards.
