Online, viewers were using just one word for the show that was supposed to kick off awards season in style. “Cringe.”
The latest Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills gathered A-list stars under the chandeliers once again, with comedian Nikki Glaser returning as host. On paper it was classic Hollywood spectacle. On screen, it turned into a night of walkouts, side-eyes and brutal one-liners that left fans divided.
Stars Slip Out Before The Final Awards
The Golden Globes have long marketed themselves as the loosest, most unpredictable night of awards season. Yet the most striking images from the latest ceremony were not of teary acceptance speeches, but of famous faces quietly making their way out of the ballroom.
Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco were among the first big names spotted leaving the Beverly Hilton before the show had wrapped. Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard also slipped away early, choosing the hallway over the final awards.
Actor and comedian Keegan-Michael Key was seen exiting ahead of the last trophies too, a visual that spoke volumes about the pace and mood inside the room. When the people at the top of the call sheet tap out before the credits roll, the message is hard to miss.
Viewers Call The Broadcast ‘Cringe’ And A ‘Disappointment’
At home, fans did not hold back. Social media filled with viewers slamming the Golden Globes as “cringe” and a “disappointment,” a harsh verdict for a telecast that once prided itself on being the fun, freewheeling cousin to more buttoned-up award shows.
That word “cringe” is a particularly brutal label in the age of instant memes and clips that live forever. It suggests not just boredom, but secondhand embarrassment, the kind that makes you want to look away even as you keep watching.
For an awards show that relies on audience passion to survive, that kind of reaction cuts deep. Ratings can be managed, formats can be tweaked, but a reputation problem is much harder to fix.
Nikki Glaser Aims Her Jokes At Real Power
In the middle of the chaos, Nikki Glaser delivered the kind of opening monologue that gets replayed long after the red carpet gowns are back in their garment bags.
Hosting the show for a second time, Glaser turned her attention away from the stars in the room and aimed squarely at some of the most powerful institutions in America.
She took a sharp shot at Donald Trump’s Justice Department, awarding the Department of Justice “best editing” in a pointed reference to the redactions in the Epstein files. It was a joke that pulled together politics, scandal and late-night style commentary in one punchline.
Glaser then pivoted to the media, singling out CBS for its own award, “most editing,” before landing on a line that instantly lit up timelines: “yes, CBS News, America’s newest place to see BS news.” In a ballroom full of publicists and network executives, it was the kind of barb that makes everyone sit up a little straighter.
The Golden Globes have a history of monologues that push against the edges of what is comfortable for live television. Glaser’s set followed in that tradition, but the mixed reaction online showed how tricky that high wire act has become.
The Golden Globes Identity Crisis
For years, the Golden Globes were known as the boozy party where anything could happen. Stars drank at their tables, surprises felt genuinely unscripted and the show had a reputation for being the place where Hollywood let its guard down.
Now the Globes are fighting for something else entirely. Relevance.
Audiences are more fragmented. Every joke is instantly clipped, shared and judged by millions of people who were not even in the room. When viewers are already wary, one awkward exchange or flat segment can sour the entire night.
The sight of high-profile guests heading for the door before the final awards, combined with viewers calling the broadcast “cringe,” tapped directly into that tension. Was this a glamorous insider celebration, or a long, uncomfortable watch that everyone simply wanted to get through?
Amid the criticism, the red carpet still shimmered, the trophies still glittered under the lights and another crop of winners still posed with their statues. Yet if there was a theme to this Globes night, it was not triumph. It was disconnection.
When The After Parties Steal The Show
By the time cameras stopped rolling, the real energy appeared to have shifted to the after-parties scattered across Beverly Hills. For many stars, the celebration beyond the hotel walls seemed more appealing than another hour in a ballroom that viewers had already branded a letdown.
Maybe that is the new reality for award shows in a hyper-online era. The official ceremony is just one chapter, not always the most thrilling one. The moments that live on are the exits, the stray comments, the razor-sharp jokes that cut through the noise and the collective verdict of millions of viewers deciding in real time whether what they are watching still matters.
This Golden Globes night will be remembered less for a single winning speech and more for the uneasy feeling that hung over it. A historic Hollywood institution found itself the target of its audience’s harshest word. “Cringe.” In a town built on applause, that may be the most stinging review of all.
