Chris Rock has declined to host the Golden Globes in 2024, along with Ali Wong and Smartless hosts Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, and Jason Bateman, according to reports.
The four comedians have turned down the opportunity to head up the award ceremony in Hollywood on January 7 – and the institution has not yet released who will be hosting.
Rock’s last time hosting a major awards show ended in disaster – when Will Smith came on stage and slapped him across the face at the 2022 Oscars.
The Oscars exchange between Smith and Rock took place after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith‘s shaved head, saying, ‘Jada, I love you, G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it!’
Chris Rock has declined to host the Golden Globes in 2024, along with Ali Wong and Smartless hosts Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, and Jason Bateman
Rock’s last time hosting a major awards show ended in disaster – when Will Smith came on stage and slapped him across the face at the 2022 Oscars
The reference was to the 1997 movie which featured Demi Moore with a shaved head. Pinkett Smith, 51, has diagnosed with alopecia, which causes hair loss.
The Philadelphia-born actor then walked onstage and smacked Rock, then returned to his seat and shouted at him twice, ‘Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth!’ to a stunned audience.
READ MORE: The full nomination list for Golden Globes 2024
Later in the evening – in his acceptance speech after winning the Best Actor Oscar for his role as tennis patriarch Richard Williams in King Richard – Smith apologized to the Academy and other nominees, but made no reference to Rock.
Ali Wong, was also approached to host the Globes this year, according to CNN. But she declined the gig.
Co-hosts of the podcast SmartLess – Will Arnett, Sean Hayes and Jason Bateman – have also turned down the offer, according to reports.
Although Amy Poehler and Tina Fey have co-hosted the Globes four times before, there is a slim chance they will return in 2023.
A source close to the women told CNN: ‘They would never do it (again). They’re done.’
Ali Wong, was also approached to host the Globes this year, according to CNN. But she declined the gig
Co-hosts of the podcast SmartLess – Will Arnett, Sean Hayes and Jason Bateman – have also turned down the offer, according to reports
The 81st Golden Globe Awards will be the first major broadcast of awards season, with a new home on CBS
A celebrity publicist said that people aren’t wanting to host award shows like the Globes because: ‘It’s a thankless job. Another said: ‘It’s not worth it. There are a lot of politics. It’s not easy and it’s not fun anymore.’
The 81st Golden Globe Awards will be the first major broadcast of awards season, with a new home on CBS.
And while to audiences it might look similar on the surface, it’s been tumultuous few years behind the scenes following a bombshell report in the Los Angeles Times.
The 2021 report found that there were no black members in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – which votes on the awards.
Stars and studios boycotted the Globes and NBC refused to air it in 2022 as a result.
After the group added journalists of color to its ranks and instituted other reforms to address ethical concerns, the show came back in January 2023 in a one-year probationary agreement with NBC. The network did not opt to renew.
In June, billionaire Todd Boehly was granted approval to dissolve the HFPA and reinvent the Golden Globes as a for-profit organization.
Its assets were acquired by Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, along with Dick Clark Productions, a group that is owned by Penske Media whose assets also include Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone and Billboard.
In mid-November, CBS announced that it would air the ceremony on the network on Jan. 7. It will also stream on Paramount+.
The group nominating and voting for the awards is now made up of a more diverse group of over 300 people from around the world.
