Los Angeles: Actor Brendan Fraser joined Howard Stern’s talk show and continued to sound off on the Golden Globes, which he did not attend this year despite being nominated for best actor in a motion picture drama thanks to his performance in Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Whale’.
Austin Butler won the category for ‘Elvis’. Fraser has accused Philip Berk, former president and member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, of groping him at a 2003 luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Fraser revealed the alleged assault in a 2018 GQ interview. Berk later disputed Fraser’s allegations, reports Variety.
During his interview with Howard Stern, Fraser said that Butler’s Globes win for ‘Elvis’ was “well deserved” and a “big win for him.” He added that he had no interest in winning the prize himself.
“I found myself wondering is this a cynical nomination,” Fraser said.
“I couldn’t really tell because of my history with them and that I still have yet to see the results from their reformation. We all are still awaiting that, to tell you the truth. What does matter is that it would mean nothing to me. I don’t want it. I didn’t ask to be considered even, that was presumed.”
Fraser continued: “They needed me, I didn’t need them. Because it wouldn’t be meaningful to me. Where am I gonna put that hood ornament? What would I do with that?”
When asked if he felt other actors should have joined him in not going to the Globes, Fraser responded: “It’s my fight, no one else’s. I don’t need everyone to stand in solidarity with me. Maybe. But, you know, it would be a leap of faith for whoever that would be. It would be a calculated risk and it could also be trivialised very easily by the cynical view of this all.”
“I honestly don’t even wanna think about it that much because it’s not that important to me,” Fraser continued about the Globes. “And the good news is, they did something important in that broadcast and it changed my thinking about them: they put Zelenskyy front and centre. They let him have the stage, and that’s a powerful statement and something I can get behind and support.”
Fraser confirmed to GQ magazine in November that he would be skipping the Globes, saying at the time: “No, I will not participate. It’s because of the history that I have with them. And my mother didn’t raise a hypocrite. You can call me a lot of things, but not that.”
For his performance in ‘The Whale’, Fraser is nominated for the Academy Award for best actor.
–IANS