Jerrod Carmichael Was a Great Golden Globes Host. Why Wouldn’t Anyone Listen to Him?

Carmichael repeatedly had to ask the crowd to stop talking while he was on stage, at one point even telling them to "shut the f--- up"

Host Jerrod Carmichael poses onstage at the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2023.
Host Jerrod Carmichael poses onstage at the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2023.
NBC via Getty Images

Like any awards show, the Golden Globes can get a little noisy. During commercial breaks, celebrity attendees and their entourages often talk amongst themselves and move from table to table to say hello and snap selfies with their fellow guests, and given that the Globes are notoriously one of the few Hollywood awards shows that allows the actors and actresses present to drink during the ceremony, the sounds of people shuffling to and from the bar can add to the din.

Still, the expectation is, of course, that everyone will quiet down and listen when the host returns to the stage to introduce the next segment. But at Tuesday night’s Golden Globes ceremony, that wasn’t always the case. Throughout the broadcast, host Jerrod Carmichael repeatedly had to ask the crowd to quiet down while he was on stage — even telling them at one point to “shut the fuck up.”

Carmichael was exactly what the controversial awards show — which did not air last year after it was revealed that its voting body, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association did not have a single Black member — needed. He didn’t pull any punches in his monologue, telling the crowd that “I’m here because I’m Black” and adding, “This show did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which I won’t say they were a racist organization — but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died — so do with that information what you will.”

But before he could deliver a single punchline, Carmichael had to ask the noisy crowd to take it down a notch so he could speak.

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“Settle settle, settle settle, settle settle,” he said as soon as he opened the show. “Settle people. In the back, let’s be a little quiet here, everybody. Let’s be a little quiet here. Everyone. Hello. Welcome to the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards.”

Those in the room didn’t get the message, apparently, because later Carmichael attempted to quiet them down by saying, ““Yo, yo, yo. I didn’t think I’d spend this much time telling y’all to shut the fuck up. Everybody relax, it’s a live show here. Shut up!”

Of course, no one expects silence at an event like this, especially one where guests are trying to shove as much food and drink into their faces as they can during a commercial break or make it back from the bathroom in time to watch the next category be announced. But anyone with an understanding of basic manners knows it’s rude to carry on a conversation at full volume while someone is standing on stage waiting to speak or perform. It’s always a bad look, but it’s especially glaring at an awards show that’s attempting to justify its very existence after a series of scandals. What’s the point of booking a great host like Carmichael if no one can hear him?

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