Highlights from Penske Media's 2025 Golden Globe Awards

I feel like such a sourpuss when I write about the Golden Globes because I have real ethical issues with Penske Media owning the GGs. Penske Media also owns nearly all the major trades (except for The Wrap), including Deadline, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, Indiewire, and Billboard, and it’s the largest shareholder of New York Magazine/Vulture. This means Penske Media pays the majority of the people writing about the Penske-owned Golden Globes, and as such, they’re much less likely to write about conflicts or even write about it critically.

That said, I’ll admit they put on a respectable show last night. Two years ago, Jerrod Carmichael revived interest in the Golden Globes after scandal nearly sank it. Last year, Jo Koy’s monologue bombed so hard it almost tanked the event single-handedly. This year, Nikki Glaser was a bright spot in a ceremony full of the things we love about the Golden Globes: drunken speeches, tipsy presenters, and maybe Zoe Saldaa having three too many drinks and weirdly stumbling on stage during the award for best score.

Hosting the GGs is one of the hardest gigs in the business, as Jo Koy and Jerrod Carmichael can attest. (Carmichael was an interesting host, but not a particularly good one.) Glaser, however, found the perfect balance. She poked fun at the celebrities in a way that was funny but not mean. Barbs were aimed at Timothée Chalamet’s terrible mustache and a joke about what genie helped Benny Blanco convince Selena Gomez to marry him were as cruel as she got. Glaser delivered a solid monologue and kept things lively with a few jokes sprinkled throughout the show. She nailed the ideal blend of Ricky Gervais’s smarm and Jimmy Kimmel’s cordiality. Notably, Glaser mostly avoided politics, which I expect to see more of from celebrities over the next four years as corporate interests steer clear of being the subject of a Trump tweet.

The running Stanley Tucci jokes? Perfection.

As for the highlights: I don’t care much about who won because I still think the awards themselves are illegitimate. The Golden Globes Foundation, which replaced the Hollywood Foreign Press, may lack the same stink of corruption, but let’s be real: it’s a 65-member organization. If you have Netflix money, it’s probably not that hard to wine and dine 65 people and convince them to vote for a movie that few people have heard of and even fewer have even watched. I’m not saying Emilia Pérez isn’t a good movie or that Zoe Saldaa didn’t deliver a great performance, but there were better films out there. Maybe Neon, the studio behind Anora, doesn’t have Netflix’s deep pockets.

That said, congrats to Wicked for winning the box-office achievement award for being the…third-highest-grossing film of the year (and apparently being more Golden Globes-friendly than Inside Out 2 or Deadpool Versus Wolverine).

I’ll admit my hypocrisy here: Demi Moore absolutely deserved her Golden Globe for The Substance and gave the best speech of the night after winning her first major award ever.

Shogun’s Tadanobu Asano gave the night’s most shocked speech, one so earnest he hilariously felt the need to introduce himself.

Demi Moore gave the best speech, but Colin Farrell had the best moment, thanking not just craft services but the woman who runs it. What a stand-up guy Farrell continues to be.

The night’s most viral moment? Andrew Garfield. At first, I thought it was a bit, but apparently, many found it…alluring? I just kept thinking, “Andrew! Button your shirt!”

Wicked’s Jon Chu didn’t give the worst speech, but he definitely gave the sweatiest—for the most meaningless award (box-office achievement).

The night’s big winners? Emilia Pérez for comedy film, The Brutalist for drama film, Hacks for comedy series, Baby Reindeer for limited series, and Shōgun for television drama.

Here’s the full list of winners:

Best motion picture, musical or comedy
Emilia Pérez

Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture, drama
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here

Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture, drama
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

Best performance by a female actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy
Demi Moore, The Substance

Best performance by a male actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy
Sebastian Stan, A Different Man

Best performance by a female actor in a supporting role
Zoe Saldaa, Emilia Pérez

Best performance by a male actor in a supporting role
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
Wicked

Best motion picture, non-English
Emilia Pérez

Best motion picture, animated
Flow

Best director
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist

Best screenplay
Peter Straughan, Conclave
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Challengers

Best original song
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez music/lyrics by Clément Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard

Television

Best television series, drama
Shōgun

Best television series, comedy or musical
Hacks

Best performance by a female actor, drama
Anna Sawai, Shōgun

Best performance by a male actor, drama
Hiroyuki Sanada, Shōgun

Best performance by a female actor TV series, musical or comedy
Jean Smart, Hacks

Best performance by a male actor, TV series, musical or comedy
Jeremy Allen White, The Bear

Best limited series, anthology series or movie made for television
Baby Reindeer

Best performance by a male actor in a limited series, anthology series or movie made for television
Colin Farrell, The Penguin

Best performance by a female actor in a limited series, anthology series or movie made for television
Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country

Best performance by a female actor in a supporting role
Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer

Best performance by a male actor in a supporting role
Tadanobu Asano, Shōgun

Best performance in stand-up comedy on TV
Ali Wong, Ali Wong: Single Lady