More Than Just an Awards Night

The 75th Golden Globe Awards which was held on January 7, 2018 may be one of the most memorable Golden Globe Awards in recent history. To make a statement against sexual harassment and equally important issues such as gender inequality in the workplace and racism, many celebrities opted to wear something less colorful and wore black instead.

Besides the usual celebration of films and television series, the Golden Globe Awards became an avenue for celebrities to support “Time’s Up!” which is a movement against sexual harassment in response to the trend of women coming forward on social media to break their silence on sexual misconducts they supposedly experienced in the hands ofmen in power. The campaign aims "to shift the focus back to survivors and on systemic, lasting solutions" to sexual violence.Thewomen’srevelationsbecame trending under the hashtag #MeTooin the latter part of 2017.

In addition to donning black ensembles, eight celebrities also attended the event with activists as their dates as opposed to taking their spouses or partners. Among them are Emma Watson, who was accompanied by MaraiLarasi, a feminist working for a feminist organization that helps prevent violence against marginalized women and girls,and Emma Stone, whowas accompanied by Billie Jean King, a former world number 1 tennis player who advocated for equality for women in the field of sports.

Some of the Hollywood A-listers who wore black to show solidarity are Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Alicia Vikander, Kendall Jenner, Mariah Carey, Jessica Chastain, Nicole Kidman, Kit Harington, Mandy Moore, and Heidi Klum.

Aside from the unity of Hollywood celebrities, the 75th Golden Globe Awards also became unforgettable because of historic awards given. Oprah Winfrey becamethe first African-American womanto take home the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award.Sterling K. Brown, the first African-American man to, for his role in “This is Us,”bagged the award for best performance by an actor in a TV drama. Aziz Ansari ofthe series “Master of None” is the first Asian actor to win a Golden Globe for best actor in a TV comedy category.

Oprah Winfrey’s acceptance speechat the Golden Globescan be considered the best speech that captured the spirit of this year’s Golden Globe Awards as sheaddressed all the girls watching and told them, “a new day is on the horizon.” She also called for“a time where women will never have to say,‘me, too’ again.”