I always forget that, oh right, Tom Hiddleston is THE WORST. This guy cannot get around a microphone without being so, so extra. He cannot do live television at all. We learned this when he won an MTV Movie Award several years ago and his speech was so… ridiculous. I actually went off of him for months back then. I re-learned the lesson again in 2015, when he made me cringe so hard during an appearance on Graham Norton. Do not make Tom Hiddleston give a speech. Do not make him do live TV. Do not pay attention to him at all, because he will become a needy dancing bear.
So, Hiddleston won a surprise Golden Globe for The Night Manager. Most people expected Courtney B. Vance to win, and maybe Tom thought that too, because he didn’t have a speech prepared. Which is why he started to riff and the story just became… awful. His story was that he was on a UNICEF trip and some of the aid workers loved The Night Manager. But the way he told the story… my God.
.@twhiddleston wins Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made For Television! Congrats! #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/2hDCKNXVNN
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 9, 2017
“A dirty beer, in humanitarian language…” UGH STAHP. Like, if he wanted to give a shout-out to UNICEF, God bless. But his story wasn’t about UNICEF’s work or humanitarian work around the world. His story was “these humanitarians I met thought The Night Manager was cool!” And that’s so cheap and craven. Everyone is criticizing him. Twitter had a field day, and Christian Slater’s cutaway went viral. Bless!
96% of Britons agree that Tom Hiddleston should have went with a simple "Thanks guys, sorry about the whole Taylor Swift thing."
— Stats Britain (@StatsBritain) January 9, 2017
Tom hiddleston winning over riz ahmed in a category he wasn't predicted to win is truly the whitest thing that's ever happened to me
— emi 💫 (@plantblogger) January 9, 2017
Christian Slater's face listening to Tom Hiddleston's "people in South Sudan love me" speech should be on US currency. pic.twitter.com/8HbZScXbH2
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) January 9, 2017
"Didn't this dude date taylor Swift?" Face @ChristianSlater. #Goldenglobes pic.twitter.com/pt8QkNtamz
— Lenny Jacobson (@Lennyjacobson) January 9, 2017
The lack of interest in Tom Hiddleston's story about his show is my everything https://t.co/vsTHCK0WQK
— Dave Lozo (@davelozo) January 9, 2017
Photos courtesy of WENN.
No, he didn’t.
As an ex-MSFer myself, with many friends who work for MSF as well, we quite appreciated the shout out, as awkward as it may have been.
this! +1000
As someone who has worked in South Sudan and has many former colleagues till working there, I think his speech was reckless and self serving. I will never not cringe when a white toff spends a week in the Juba POC compound and acts like this. Also, the challenges in that country are are vastly different depending on where you go. I guarantee you that much of the local population who are building businesses, farming and educating themselves will sneer at this drive-by humanitarian and his generalist language. Note the difference with Clooney and Affleck who are region specific when discussing their country of focus.
Ramona, having also worked in South Sudan, I do see what you mean. But I disagree with your overall statement about the speech itself. Badly executed, but well intentioned. Hopefully he’ll learn and get someone to write better stuff for him in the future
Exactly. He didn’t give the worst acceptance speech, he isn’t the worst and he was incredible in the Night Manager. Did you consider he might just be socially awkward? The level of bile in this post is ridiculous.
I expected the bile from DM but not from here. But DM surprised me and CB disappointed me.
He wasn’t incredible in the Night Manager. Good, yes. Deserving to win, not sure.
Overall, I liked more his other performances.
No bile or snark, sorry. Take your Hiddleston rose-colored glasses off.
Stats Britain’s tweet rocked lol
It would have been so much better if he had simply mentioned international arms smuggling and how it has affected the people in South Sudan and the region, and then if he had simply given a shout-out to the aid workers there. It was embarrassing to see him tying those real-life sufferings and sacrifices to his made-for-tv movie.
…but I think he was superb in The Night Manager and I support his win even though there were others who deserved it, too.
Agreed. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the headline makes it out to be. Oh, so he brought some attention to humanitarian aid workers? So thirsty. Please.
Agree. If he is proud of unicef and international aid workers who work in conflict zones he should have just focused on that and not himself and how he is contributing and omg maybe give him an award for spending time in South Sudan too. So self absorbed. Even if the workers there did watch and did like the night manager why not get over you prive and give a shout out to the people who do the work on the ground. Ugh. Though I must say I feel a bit sad for him. Ot seems like no one in the room was listening to him
I just put that Stats Britain tweet on the other thread! It made me spit my Christmas cake (yes, we still have fruit cake left, and I am valiantly eating it all. I should get an award myself).
Poor old LEGS. He’s such a twat. Can’t decide if he wants to be adorable posh Brit (a la Redmayne) or liberal humanitarian (a la Clooney). And the mishmash makes him look ridiculous.
But ridiculous LEGS is the best LEGS. Long may he reign and supply us with, with, with… well, whatever this is!
PS: I thoroughly enjoyed TNM but LEGS was a bit the weakest link in it and I wouldn’t have given it or him any awards (except maybe Olivia). Felt the same about American Crime Story – very good and well made/acted but not outstanding. I wanted Riz to win, not LEGS.
I love Olivia!!! I am also feeling a bit smug about Tom because I always though he was a bit of a t*at. Considering his education probably cost more than many people earn in a lifetime, you would think he could figure out how to present himself better.
They’ve changed the BAFTA rules this year so TNM can go in the domestic category along with The Crown. I’ll be miffed if it means fully domestic and highly creative shows are drowned out by shows with silly money and expensive production values as their main qualities. LEGS or no LEGS. (And I think Foy was great in The Crown).
I thought it was scandalous Tom Hollander didn’t get nominated, he was the best thing in it.
My friend’s children go to the same school as Olivia’s, and both she and her husband are by all accounts extremely down to earth and charming. I love her and want her to win all the awards. Hiddles just needs to go away somewhere. Or he could do some theatre again, I’d be all for that (NOT at the Donmar).
@becky…
#JusticeforCorky
@Tina, that is so nice to hear. She comes across in interviews like a dotty aunt, that could well be a bit of an act, but she also does come across as warm and charming. It is nice to hear she is like that in the real world.
Sixer – can I ask you a possibly stupid American, myopic question? Was OJ’s murder trial big news there? Do you feel that some of the love was a product of cultural zeitgeist for Americans that the HFP didn’t feel or relate to? It was extremely well acted but I do think part of my enjoyment was I was finally let in on secrets I was too young to understand or be told in much detail about. I knew of the car chase and the infamous glove, I remembered the reaction but didn’t know all the precipitating events. Although my parents felt living through it once was enough for one lifetime and could not be persuaded to watch.
Lindsey – OJ was massive news here! Don’t think I was unimpressed by it because I thought it was really, really good and I loved all the performances. I think maybe I was a little underwhelmed because we have a very strong history of this type of docu-drama here in the UK. We are used to seeing shows like this (our ITV network is very strong on them) and so it felt like high quality but bread-and-butter television rather than something special and stand-out and award-worthy. I feel the same when British period dramas win American awards cos I think “but that’s just ten-a-penny here”.
Why do you think it stood out so much stateside? The topic? The acting? Or fewer of that type of show?
Thanks for replying. I must take the opportunity to tell you your post always brighten my day. I think it was a mix of things a great cast giving phenomenal performances. It was an interesting look at a case that was so iconic and a look behind the scenes at these infamous moments. It has been done to death like poor Jon Bennet Ramsey. It was a good mix of soapy and informative and looked at how this case became a watershed moment in broadcast and tabloid news. The topic still holds intrigue for people who remember the case, even if like me it was learned through hushed tones but I think even people who watched the whole thing play out never knew the toll it was taking behind the scenes. Look at Tina Fey’s reversal on her opinion of Marcia Clark for an example. It is something we don’t have a lot of so maybe that is why. Fictionalizations of real stories that stick closely to the facts without being over the top, too out there or too dry. Do you have any British examples/recommendations? I’d be very interested. Thanks!
In short I would say all three elements blended with an interesting narrative style plus excellent timing, it wasn’t competing with a ton of other shows and culturally true crime is even more popular than normal. It also had that “old fashioned” intrigue of having a week to digest and analyze the previous episodes while excitement built for the next one. No binging!
I am super excited for his take on Hollywood feuds a little less so for Huricane Katrinia.
I loved Olivia in it!!
I can’t understand why everyone is actually hailing it as one of his best performances…. Maybe dating Taylor Swift paid off.
And Christian Slater’s expression said it all 😀
Lindsey
(Thanks!)
Yes – I may be off, but I get the impression that true stories are told well in US film but in TV it tends to be lower quality Lifetime stuff? So this one stood out for topic AND genre?
Relatively recent UK true story dramas I’ve enjoyed: The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies (about a man accused of a murder by media simply because he was a bit weird), Code of a Killer (about the development of DNA fingerprinting), Cilla (about the life of singer Cilla Black). They all have castings of some of our best loved TV actors.
Sixer – I agree with you about Olivia. She was, by far, the best part of The Night Manager.
The miniseries had its problems, but Olivia’s portrayal of Burr was one of the highlights by far. Having a woman who was both north of 40 and pregnant playing Burr and in a way that still made her competent at her job was nice to see. She was pregnant, yes, but it in no way defined her character. In an odd way, it was rather groundbreaking, given how pregnant women are frequently portrayed these days.
FOREHEAD is a good actor. Quite charismatic too but he shines the most when he is surrounded only by men. All his leading ladies upstage him. I don’t know why.
He did it for you. He knew you needed some ridiculousness and there were no Build-a-bears about.
He did! I was thinking of you and knowing you’d be chuffed on my behalf when I saw it over breakfast this morning!
I had th exact same thought. Instead of start with the “short story” thing, he should have said “this is for Sixer”. The reaction shot were amazing and on point.
Hugh Laurie was the luckiest person in the room that night. He won an award everyone said he had no shot at and didn’t have to sit through that speech. Loved his “there must have been a mix up.”
Oh my. If he had said “this is for Sixer AND she’s got a choux swan in the post”, I would have died and gone to heaven!
Sucks that he thought he needed to apologize. At worst the speech was a bit clumsy ( I assume cause he was nervous). It was so blown out of proportion. tumblr
Tom deserved to win and the audience clapped after his speech. I think most of them got the gist, as well as most of the viewing audience.
If growing up in the 80s taught me anything, it’s that you do not want to piss off Christian Slater.
The worst acceptance speech ever!!!! I cringe just thinking about it. Christian slaters face said it all.
Whoa. That story went off the rails. The people working for Doctors Without Borders are REAL HEROES. An actor’s job is to be convincingly FAKE. Entertaining doctors who see shredded children every day is not much to boast about. He should left his ego at home. If he is doing humanitarian work beyond dirty beers, then good for him.
The worst part is I’m sure he meant well but it just gets mangled in the humble bragging.
He and Benedict both have that same problem where they try to say the right thing but it ends coming off as self aggrandizing and thus ruins the positive message they were trying to make. Tom is fame hungry but I do think he cares about his charity work.
@ willow I completely agree with you I think he means well but he needs to get someone to write he speeches. I understand that he wanted to use that very public platform to discuss what is happening in South Sudan but he fucked it up. He might as well not have said anything about unicef and kept his speech short and sweet.
That vine of everyone’s unimpressed face made me spit out my drink last night. Cause it was exactly how I felt during that speech. So congratulatory. So smug.
I actually muted the TV for a lot of his speech, I was cringing so hard. I mean, he could have made it so simple and effective (something like “I have to take a few moments here to point out that while we’re all here enjoying good food and lots of champagne there are so many people out there doing work that doesn’t often get recognized, like UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders…” and bla bla). Instead he twists it into some weird compliment to the miniseries…ugh. Not the worst speech ever but it was still so bad.
Leo did an amazing film-production-sort-of-linked-to-cause speech at the Oscars. (And then promptly went back to his private jets and yachts.)
@Sixer, Lilac, Bonzo, MI6
Okay, just a question: should I watch the acceptance speech? Too cringeworthy? I guess I won’t. Tbh I was shocked about his win. And I am so sad that I am over the guy. There used to be times I would have been over the moon for him but now I am just like: Congrats… *moves on* too bad. Btw, am I the only one who thinks the whole show was overrated? Honestly I don’t get the fuss at all. His performance was wooden like hell. Dull at times. Coleman was the only one I enjoyed watching (with that accent!)…….
It wasn’t as bad as the MTV one but it was funny! He just can’t judge a tone or a room, is all.
I feel like his voice is what Waity is going for.
I’m with you. The mere idea that some criminal mastermind would be all like “hey person on an island I’ve never met until 3 seconds ago, wanna hang with me and my fam then help me illegally trade weapons and sh&t?” was a little bit of a stretch for me.
Olivia is everything- watch her in TwentyTwelve and Broadchurch. You’re welcome.
I didn’t mind that part. He saved his son. Plus, he had to earn each level of trust and they thought they had leverage over him since he was a fugative. Other things were spiller and too over the top or poorly explained.
Guest, I also haven’t watched it as I’ve seen the reaction.
Poor Tom, his heart is in the right place but it appears the speech was misjudged and he’s getting dragged for it. I also get the impression those dragging him were annoyed he won over Vance and Ahmed.
No need to watch it. It was NOT the worst acceptance speech ever. I think Jacqueline Bisset owns that by several miles with a Matthew McConaughey one somewhere in second. But he wasn’t prepared and he tried to use it to make a statement and bungled it.
LP, I got that impression and that the dragging is OTT.
There was also some incident with Nicole Kidman on the RC where she appeared to be drunk.
She interrupted him when he was being interviewed and he very nicely turned it over to her. She appeared to be drunk when she was presenting with Reese too. Unless flighty airhead is her new persona.
I thought Reese was the drunk one. Nicole seemed to pick up on the fact that they were doing a bad job as presenters.
Guest, once he launched into the Sudan story I cringed for the rest of the speech. While there’s nothing wrong with raising awareness about Sudan and showing appreciation for aid workers, the way that story ended up he was bragging about how much they liked his show. That’s why he’s being mocked all over the internet. Even WashPo included it in their recap this morning!
Sixer, I knew you would be happy with his “performance” last night.
And with that, I must sign off as I’m starting a new job to help fill up the school day hours with moneymaking activity! Gotta count some beans…
@Bonzo
Congrats on your new job!
And I agree with your sentiments, I posted 5 times to basically say what you said in just one post 😀
Congrats on the new cash flow from me too! Don’t get distracted by here like wot I do – everything takes twice as long as it should! (Not that I won’t miss you.)
Best wishes for the new job.
No, you are not the only one who thinks the whole show was overrated. I honestly think the best performance was for Debicki. I am also over this guy. I used to like him soooo much. Now is only cringe over cringe over cringe.
I blame the guy in charge of the “your time is up” music for not starting it halfway through his speech.
this is so heart breaking because it shows us that Taylor Swift and him really are soul mates.
I don’t find her long winded or extra though . Her speeches are precise and likely meticulously planned ( which is fine and professional )
she’s far better than him, even though his stans refuse to admit it.
Awkward + try hard, squared.
This could only have been bettered by having Taylor Swift in the audience.
Did he prepare that speech? Run it by anybody? Because even I could have told him “Tom. No”. The thought was there, however the execution was beyond terrible.
Riz Ahmed shoUld have won. The very tall girl in Night Manager outshines Tom everytime they are together. I cannot even remember her name yet she is much more memorable.
Elizabeth Debicki, I think. Aussie lass. Great actress.
The first time I saw her was in the Man from uncle movie- she was perfection!
I. Loved her. Good actress and gorgeous. And her legs give me envy. She’s got some big movies coming up.
Riz was robbed! I would have been so happy to see him win. Instead we were punished with the worst speech ever. Ugh.
thank you.
Yeah, no offense to Tom, but I think one of the others should have won: Vance, Ahmed, or Cranston.
I couldn’t finish watching the clip. I was too embarrassed for him.
It’s so unfair that he won over John Turturro 🙁
And Courtney B Vance.
At least Vance already got the Emmy
There were much more disappointing and unfair wins last night like Casey Affleck, Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling.
I already felt two second-hand embaressments today, I can’t watch this one too.
I’m not surprised, tho. He pulled the same s!!t on those MTV awards. Something about a dog named Loki? And he does it in interviews as well if he is allowed off the leash.
I guess he’s either well-meaning but clueless or very calculating and bad at it.
Aaand now I just noticed Casey Affleck won. That’s much worse than Hiddleston’s ramblings. Sigh.
Casey’s win was worst moment for me, and when he thanked his kids for having to endure bad things being said about daddy during his awards campaign (paraphrasing that part) I made gagging noises. If anyone deserves to be dragged for a speech, it’s him.
Exactly, and instead a guy mentioning a worthy cause is being dragged over the internet, I just don’t understand it.
It’s more fun, I gather from the comments here.
(The news, not criticising.)
He looked too scruffy and dirty, and that somehow made it worse. It’s a shame because that was a good part and I would have liked to have seen it go to someone else. I wouldn’t have minded if Damon HAD taken the role. He’s got his problems, but not like that.
My six friends and I were watching and we got what he was trying to say. Although we could tell that he was unprepared, at worst the speech was a bit clumsy but well intentioned.
People seemed to like it in the audience and I think they got the gist.
But leave it to some to extract the worst and reduce it to as much clickbait as possible. The way its snowballing all the way over to white savior is ridiculous.
I feel bad for him. Tom wins his 1st GG award, tries to give a well intentioned speech (however unprepared/clumsily given), genuinly seems to care about other people, and now he has to deal with a bunch jerks who love to tear apart and probably don’t do 1/4 the charity work he does grasping at whatever they can so that their clickbaity articles get as many views as possible.
And showing Vince Vaughn’s face as if that means anything. Vaughn’s face turned to outright anger during Streep’s speech.
Yes, to all of this.
He’s a try-hard, but he means well, and there are far worse things to be than that.
Also, I’m instinctively on his side after they cut to Vaughn looking pissed for no good reason. When was the last time he was relevant in any way shape or form?
What happened during Meryl’s speech?
@Crox, during Meryl’s speech, Vaughn and Mel Gibson, who were seated together at the Hacksaw Ridge table, both looked positively furious. Vaughn is extremely right wing.
I take it she made a political speech too?
I don’t know aything about Vaughn’s personal life, so thanks for the info. Being how liberal HW actors usually are and how often they give speeches about that, he and Gibson must have a tought time at every award show.
@verdant exactly! Even DM commenters are defending him. Me too. I didn’t see any harm in it. HW people like to live in bubble. Of course that guy made that b1tch face cause tom burst his bubble. Nobody cares especially in HW about sudan. Tom meant well and I actually enjoyed it. I felt second hand embarrassment for him in many threads BUT this is definitely NOT the one.
DM commenters backing you isn’t a good thing; that paper has a majority Conservative–and racist–base.
IMO he really messed up here in that I can’t imagine how that even came out off the cuff. I get his intentions were good but jeez.
@Lily When did tom say something racist in that speech? I am saying that I though CB commenters were more mature and understanding than DM’s. I guess they changed places for one day.
Yup. He bungled a speech. Crucify him! Sigh.
@ I Choose Me
The criticism isn’t that he bungled his speech but that he was being self congratulatory and long winded.
Kaiser calling it the worst speech ever is a bit extra but I don’t get why this thread is intentionally acting obtuse.
@Nik. The criticism is valid. As someone upthread said, he does NOT know how to read a room and he gets a case of verbal diarrhea whenever he’s trying to please. (Stop trying so hard Tommyboy!) But I do believe his heart is in the right place and I don’t feel the speech was bad enough to warrant the amount of dragging he’s getting.
If you watched to the end of his speech, hardly anyone in the audience even clapped for him. Most people were unimpressed and rightfully so.
I can’t stand him so I’m glad he embarrassed himself – especially because his fans have this “he is better than everybody else” attitude. Something about him being British and educated
Saying he’s not exactly a monster for giving an awkwardly worded speech, is hardly the same as saying “he is better than everybody else”…
And saying he’s self-absorbed and made a complete arse of himself is hardly the same calling him a monster.
His fans are the worse. I’d feel bad for him if not for them.
I don’t feel bad for him even if his fans were the nicest bunch.
Look at meeee…humaniitariiiaaaan
Ahahahahahahaha.
Glad the general public now see what Ive been seeing past years.
Amazed he won. I don’t think TNM was anyone’s finest hour. I thought it was a preposterous show with daft plotting and a clunky script.
I can well believe the speech was misjudged (I don’t know whether I want to listen to it!), as he’s got form for that. Eh, I think he just tries too hard, is too self-conscious and earnest, and can’t see what that looks like from the outside. “Here we go again” was my main thought 🙂
We were all Christian Slater last night. Terrible speech!! My husband and I both cringed at Tom.
From a friend on FB:
People who DON’T think Tom Hiddleston’s Golden Globe acceptance speech was annoying:
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Unicef UK
Unicef USA
Unicef South Sudan
The UN
Global Goals
And journalists who know the difference between Sudan and South Sudan.
Because leave it to pop vulture, er, culture to extract the most negative connotations possible from a man connecting his personal experiences in a war zone to an award for a show rampant with fictional war zones, inspiring him to dedicate the award to the real heavy lifters doing the work in those real zones.
See Dippits post below.
.
He attempted to connect the audience of actors he was in front of with his experience in South Sudan in such a way that it was relatable and to get to the point of dedicating the award to those workers. If all you perceive is “me, me, me”, a second look at your own lens of perception may be in order.
The list I posted above? Entities and individuals who have tweeted their appreciation for his words not merely once but in many cases multiple times.
Different points, both valid to me. I get the cringe worthiness but I also get the intent.
Meh, don’t speak for all MSFers My MSF friends appreciated it, as awkward as it may have been. It’s how I even found out about it, as I did not watch the awards
@TotallyBiased And those are the ones that matters. thank you.
My point was it’s a matter of opinion.
I’ve worked in the aid work field times past, and now assist at times in a supporting role. All I have to say is – URGH.
I particularly cringed at his leading with with “I” in the “The idea that *I* could provide… ” [with a rapid change to “we” as he realised he’d language-leaked ego driven saviour complex… oh urgh.
And “dirty beer in *humanitarian language*”… no aid worker refers to themselves as an humanitarian and whilst there are shorthand and terms – like most fields of work, a language per say (common parlance) the use of “humanitarian” there was a clear disconnect from such parlance so, I can only assume, designed to allow TH to claim association, with added own saviour complex, as a self-titled “humanitarian” – another URGH.
What a prat.
There were ways to make a speech to tribute the work of MSF etc and raise awareness… that tone-deaf attempt wasn’t one of them.
I KNEW you would have something to say about this! I concur.
Well you know me Sixer – I struggle with celebrities mythomanically inflating their significance in such areas and he was full-on hitting poorly conceived notes for me with that speech.
*/edit to above post *per se – bloody phone.
I don’t feel sorry for him because if he hasn’t learned by now, he never will. But I do think the motivation was pure. He just can’t seem to stop the thirst getting in the way. He must be getting terrible advice.
Yes, I think our most charitable act of the day would be to use the term ‘well-intentioned’ and pity that it was somewhat overtaken by his own need for self-praise/regarding merit.
Perhaps he is learning Sixer. He’s agreed his speech was “inelegantly expressed” and apologised citing nerves.
@Dippit
Totally spot-on.
Oh please, overreacting much? Changing “I” to “we”? Really? You never actually started a sentence with “I” and then remembered that it wasn’t just you and quickly changed to “we”? Come on with the frivolity and stupidity!
Not that I recall, no.
I don’t know why my original response got erased, I didn’t think I was being offensive to anyone, but in case I was I’ll try to say it in a nicer way- of course you don’t recall it because it’s not such a significant thing to be remembered forever and my opinion is that you’re nitpickig a bit in your dislike of him and that makes it kinda ridiculous.
I didn’t see your original post so can’t comment.
Clearly our perceptions are different as to that segment of his speech. You think my perception is ridiculous, I merely think yours differs from mine.
I said the same thing originally, just in a bit different words so I thought that maybe it didn’t get through moderation because I may have used wrong phrasing (although I didn’t think I was being offensive, because it’s not my intention to insult). It may have just disappeared for no reason.
Anyway, you’re right about perception and I’ll agree to disagree about that matter.
Dippit, spot on.
His intense need for everyone’s approval was on full display with that speech. Well intentioned perhaps, but tone deaf. He seriously needs a speechwriter to help him when he wants to say anything more than thanks, because he can’t seem to hide his thirst.
Agree that he has an intense need for approval. It has and will in future prove his downfall if he doesn’t learn to reign that in.
You have to be fairly lodged in the deepest crevice of your own arse hole to take a story about UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and Sudan and make it about YOU.
THIS.
This. All he had to say was something like: “I dedicate this award to Médecins Sans Frontières, UNICEF and all others in South Sudan who are providing much needed aid to those affected by war. I had the privilege to spend some time with some of those workers when I was there and they have my deepest respect for the work they do.”
I make a point of never watching awards ceremonies as I object to them on principle. So I cannot really comment on the cringeworthyness of any of the speeches.
However while I enjoyed TNM I did find it extremely far fetched, and Tommy boy (who I still fancy like mad, and would jump on in heartbeat) was as wooden in it, as any actor I’ve ever seen.
The only thing that kept me watching were the lush locations. Debrecki’s wardrobe and Tommy boys bum.
It seemed that the HW Forein Press had two foreign favorites that they thought awardworthy.. While I enjoyed TNM and The Crown, neither were deserving of big awards imo, although I thought Foy and Coleman were great and not upset they were recognized last night.
Congrats on the new gig, Bonzo! I just got one too, hence my belated repsonse.
You really didn’t like The Crown, did you? 😅
Poor Tommy. He probably died a little inside with the Twitter backlash. His collision with reality continues. He should wear a helmet.
Why does this surprise anyone? Remember the MTV Movie Awards?!
I still think he’s an adorable, awkward dork.
And Sixer, you are incorrigible.
😉
PS- I would leave home for Hugh Laurie in a heartbeat 😍
Right back at ya, MI6. Working hard (not really) for da money!
I liked it, like I liked TNM. It was over the top at times, but still entertaining. Neither bowled me over.
Yes, poor Tommy. I hope he had a strong sedative for that headache in lieu of a helmet. He’s remains the beloved dork/twat who gives me a reason to come and snark with the fellow ‘bitches. Gotta love him for that!
I think he really didn’t expect to win and came totally unprepared and nerves got the best (worst?!) of him. That said, LEGS should really take a break from Cumby, apparently foot in mouth syndrome is contagious.
As if Tommy was not even worse than Cumberbatch.
Well, he’s certainly getting there, but no, I think he has a way to go to reach Cumby levels.
Cumby, whatever his faults, gives good award’s speeches and can do live tv without embarrassing himself and being cringe-worthy.
@freebunny, what award speech of Cumberbatch’s was televised? He didn’t show up to collect his Emmy, so no speech. His theater award speeches for Frankenstein weren’t televised, were they? However, his photobombing U2 at the Oscars, not once, but twice, was extremely cringeworthy, and then he congratulated himself for doing it – triple cringe. And his reaction when Redmayne won the Golden Globe has to go down as one of the worst loser faces of all time.
Benny the Bouncer was brilliant!
I will never fail to love it when our poshies go and embarrass themselves stateside. I am not a good person.
Not to mention that “Sherlock’s bedside manner” interview, every awkward mention of Sophie that makes it sound like he got a dog, not a wife, fatherhood, and the list goes on and on and on.
And of course, when there is a negative story is about Tom his fans bring up Benedict. Can they go one article without doing so? Guess not. LOL.
White savior complex.
because he spoke about something he’s been passionate about since before he made it big? riiiight
That’s convenient and inaccurate.
He’s been doing this work for 4 years now and very quietly. He used a very public forum to promote a cause close to his heart, albeit, in his own words, inelegantly. I don’t think an apology was called for. Tom’s a bit over earnest to be sure, but entirely well meaning. To a fault.
Boy just needs a crash course in messaging and a handler at all times to make sure he stays on script, that’s all. I volunteer as tribute!
All this vitriol is entirely uncalled for and a pile on because people were disappointed that other nominees didn’t win. Tom is unfortunately the scapegoat for a much larger issue.
lmfao, the cognitive dissonance is outstanding. Must hurt when your imaginary boyfriend gets outed as a someone who has a massive white savior complex. I’ll be sure to bring up your “All this vitriol is entirely uncalled for” line when I see you on the next Taylor article hun.
I don’t understand the hate for this. I too come from the humanitarian aid world, having spent most of my career working with MSF, and now working on access to medicines issues. And I have to say, I did not mind the speech. Badly executed, yes. Dirty beer? Stupid. But also very well intentioned, or at least I thought so. In fact, I have a similar story. I was in Burundi during bombing and we were hiding out in the halls (no windows so safer) and we setup a TV at the entrance and watched Harry Potter. That really helped me and kept me calm in a difficult time. So no, I didn’t mind at all.
because some people don’t have better things to do *like helping people in S sudan* . They would rather sit in their comfy chair and live in their petty bubble and shout “Burn him” if anyone tries to actually break the bubble.
So anyone who cannot bring themselves to South Sudan are just people sitting on their chairs?
Seems an extreme view of point.
What, do you have something to say about other people helping the homeless in your local borough? Just because it’s not in South Sudan, it doesn’t make it worthless.
Hiddleston’s fans are really the worst.
Please not everyone has the means to go to South Sudan or the financial stability to take some time off to go help. Also how do you know if they actually do not donate to these charities or help where they can within heir limited means locally. Why cape so hard for a mediocre dude who just wants to congratulate himself in the end? What a rude comment.
Do you help other people like you are pointing fingers at me? The people who actually help other aren’t actually overreacting to his speech. The UNICEF, UN are actually thanking him for the shout out. Looks like people who are not involved in those works are throwing acids to him.
I already was pissed that he won over Riz Ahmed and Michael Shannon then this speech!
I’m sure his intentions were good but the execution was epically bad: what could have been a nice shout out to UNICEF and MSF ended up sounding like a narcissistic anecdote.
It was bad but he just seemed really unprepared like he just started talking and wanted to see where the words would take him! Lol has happened to me! The worst
I wasn’t going to watch, but turned it on just to see one. Oh boy, that was some speech. I appreciate the shout out to people who are doing amazing work, but yikes, that was really awkward and pretentious. He really should’ve run that speech by someone else first.
Dying at Christian Slater’s expression!
I mean, he could have thanked humanitarian aide workers without letting everyone know how grateful those workers were to him, Tom Hiddleston, for entertaining them with his show. Also, he did not deserve this award and frankly shouldn’t have been nominated for anything for his role in TNM. He was out-acted by all of his costars (especially Coleman and Laurie). He should have just thanked his colleagues and agent and left the stage.
That pose on the red carpet, jeez. He should do catalogue modelling.
In paper knickers.
Do I feel contrary today? Perhaps. Or maybe I am a bit sick of kicking the guy who’s already on the ground (poor thing, it will take a looooong time before we forget the TS debacle).
He dedicated the speech to humanitarians (a mission he is not familiar with, thus the epitet, surely) who watched a film about arms trafficking which is, incidently, what makes them have to do what they do.
He is not an author but an actor and therefore did the best he could do. He does not have the experience Meryl Street had, nor the eloquence. I don’t see the big deal.
Yup, I’m with you on this one Slowsnow. I don’t get the hate.
Right? Meryl Street is also white, but older and wiser and more eloquent, and she was speaking for Trump-haters but also for POC, immigrants and foreigners. But she doesn’t get any hate although she has said very strange things in the past about feminism.
Methinks it’s the syndrome-of-kicking-him-while he’s down.
He has a soothing voice, a nice accent but can be clumsy.
Stop calling it ‘hate.’ Just because you criticize or make fun of someone doesn’t automatically make it ‘hate.’ The guy gave a shitty, unorganized speech that came off as self congratulatory, though yes, it was well-intentioned.
Hiddles’s fans praise him for his eloquence all the time and he’s educated, so now we can’t say he’s not eloquent and uneducated about something he’s supposed to be passionate about.
And it comes after so many others cringe-worthy moments.
He just doesn’t learn.
It’s not the worst speech ever, but it’s certainly not the best, even coming from him.
For someone who’s ‘that’ educated, his improvisation skills were certainly poor and exposed him as less eloquent than usual.
But you know, we are not allowed to criticise Hiddleston………
Oh I don’t mind criticising him. I will forever criticise his TS moments, that photo op in Rhodes Island and the t-shirt should never be forgotten … but I just don’t see the need to for this case.
Tom’s inability to give brief, concise statements actually reminds me of a few really intelligent people I know – their brains aren’t wired for the TV era of three-second clips. I actually do think he is both intelligent and sincere.
That said, his people should know his strengths and weaknesses and should have had that speech written for him so his actual meaning came across.
@SilverUnicorn by all means, criticise TH! I have! With a bit of witt and a bit of oomph! It’s just that here I find it a bit much that’s all. He even said Médecin sans Frontières right. Twice. Props for that at least??
They want to have it both ways. They start off by saying how educated and sophisticated he is, then when he does something human, dumb or famewhore, they want to say that he’s naive. Um, no. His speech was said exactly how he wanted to say it. Just as his ‘relationship’ with Taylor was exactly how he wanted it. He probably didn’t think he’d get called on his humble-bragging or for having a fake relationship.
The whole time I was like “where I’d he going with this?” I also thought that he would have learned from his past awkward cringe inducing moments… boy was I wrong. What a self-righteous d!ck.
At the risk of being asked why I’m here because apparently one cannot comment on a Tom Hiddleston story unless one unequivocally loves Tom Hiddleston, I just don’t get it with him.
Yeah, he’s a good actor. Many of them are. But as far as Tom as an actual person, I just don’t get it. I don’t find him particularly handsome. He excites me about as much as a q-tip. And time and time again, he proves his utter ridiculousness.
*runs away to protect myself*
You can be rude about LEGS, darling! I do it all the time and people sometimes DON’T EVEN MIND. Honest! Just stick your tongue in your cheek while you’re about it and you’ll be fine, I promise.
*sticks tongue into cheek*
Aaaa I oooing ihhh raaah?
Faaaahks, Ihhhxahh!
😉
LOL!
I’m with you too, Shambles! I even like him as an actor but always found all this craziness about him quite extreme and pointless.
Are you kidding? Most of the posters make fun of Tom. My problem is when it turns vicious [ that’s rare] Most people do what Sixer says, “take the piss out of him” I had no problem with the speech except that it was rambling. I’m so old that I do not immediately pick up on what will be the next online attack in the culture.
He makes is waay to easy for the internet to take the p!ss out of him – way to easy.
He’s not a very good public speaker, he loves to talk which is fine but doesn’t know when to shut up.
I hear ya, Third Ginger. I was mostly referring to yesterday, when I was asked, “Why are you here?” simply for stating that ol’ Tom does absolutely nothing for me in the looks department.
Bloody hell, Shambles. Why are you here?
(I like you being here really. But LEGS threads are my naughty threads.)
Madame, Sixer, you need to straighten up before I confiscate your Build a Bears and your Cheez Its.
Shambles, as someone who found LEGS sometimes attractive and enjoyed some of his performances, I’m here for the hilarity and snark. Don’t let anyone keep you away because you don’t love him like a stan. some of us have no issues taking the piss out of him.
so happy for him that he won! I didn’t expect it but happy anyways.
http://metro.co.uk/2016/02/29/10-oscar-winning-speeches-that-made-us-cringe-5717769/
Reminded me of George Clooney’s best supporting Oscar acceptance speech in 2006 for Syriana.
Just wow.
Yes that speech was , in part, cringe worthy,
but at least he wasn’t bragging about sexually assaulting women.
On a lighter note, let’s blame the I heart TS vest for all the Hiddles bashing. It brings out the worst in the nit-twits. 🙂
I think TH was startled to win, too, but someone with his education and intelligence should have been able to do better than this in a short thank-you speech. Hiddles has the oddest persona: I think his considerable IQ is somehow fogged in by emotional problems like narcissism and immaturity. It is too bad, because when he actually sits down for a planned interview about his work, he seems quite different. It’s as if he doesn’t know what to do with his own psyche when he isn’t working.
I haven’t watched it and won’t – he is just too cringeworthy when he’s giving speeches or being interviewed. His publicist needs to have a sit down with him as his thirst for fame will be his undoing. He keeps making a tit of himself.
He’s just like Bendy – tries to hard to be this earnest humanitarian, intellectual posh English boy but ends up coming across as a posh entitled self grandizing twat where its all about how amazing he is.
I think you phrased it so well, “his thirst for fame will be his undoing”. It’s already having an effect when most people know him only as the guy who dated Taylor Swift and now many more are aware of his unabated thirst. He has seen his best days I’m afraid.
I think he meant well but his usual long-windedness took over. He’s been working with the UNICEF people a lot lately and it seems like he genuinely admires the work that they do. I like him, so it’s easier for me to give him the benefit of the doubt, though.
However, I completely understand the majority reaction to the speech, though. A “this is dedicated to everyone at UNICEF, who do the truly important work” or something like that would have worked a lot better.
Agreed. I don’t mock his intent-it was the delivery that was cringeworthy.
Maybe my daughter just said it best.
He is like a middle school kid who just wants to fit in with the cool crowd. But just can’t quite figure out how to be cool and accepted.
She said it better but that is the gist of it.
I agree with your daughter. It’s like he’s constantly trying to get in to the big HW gang but just keeps fumbling. I think in his speech he just wanted to keep up with his colleagues, but it just seems he’s not as quick witted on demand as others are. That being said it’s always a good thing when people bring a little known cause to light.
This is why I think he was such a match for Taylor Swift. Why they exploded into such a big PR mess so quickly.
Yeah I have long said he’s like that uncool nerd that got promoted to the cool kids table and is just trying so hard to fit in, to make people like him.
Maybe one day he will be able to get up and give a “Sally Field” speech……’You like me, you really like me”.
Bingo, Hannah. And it’s part of his charm.
Like I said in last nights open post, he brought an amazing cause to be the talk of the GG!!! That’s a win, a funny/awkward one, but a full will in my book. Sure he took a while to get to the true point of the story, I can’t imagine the dumb ramblings of my live speech?! Haha He’s harmless.
agreed
Celebrity in wants to be more famous shocker. And? It’s the nature of the game.
Give the guy a break, he won an award no one (himself included I’d bet) expected him to win and he tried to raise awareness while he had the stage. Perhaps he didn’t do it in the most suitable way but as I’m sure someone once told him…haters gonna hate.
I’m confused as to how this is the worst exceptance speech ever. I’d say, at worst he wasn’t prepared. If he had written out those thoughts before hand & maybe had a little help polishing them, no one would have cared. He was trying to say something nice, it just came out in a bit of a ramble. There are plenty of people whose mouth gets ahead of their brain, so to speak.
Oh my god, YES! I didn’t think I could think less of him after the “I heart TS” nonsense but here we are. I really, REALLY, for his sake, hoped that rambling story was going somewhere uplifting and insightful, but, instead, it was a poor, half-hearted plug for his own TV project. Which didn’t even make any sense because, yeah, what a lighthearted, forget-your-troubles romp The Night Manager is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
All of the charm and goodwill he built up in the public eye as Loki — doing things like playing his character for the Comic-Con panel, etc. — has been tossed out the window, stomped on and then driven over by a dump truck.
He is like Anne Hathaway. In that he’s self-absorbed and awkward, but he does try, he is FAR from the worst, and yet he gets criticized more than people who actually are in the running for that title. He definitely deserves some ribbing, but all the crapping on him feels like wannabe cool kids making fun of someone for caring. Actually I can’t think of anything he’s done that’s truly terrible? Again, this speech was certainly self-absorbed and awkward, but at least he wasn’t saying that autistic people shouldn’t have dreams a la Cumberbatch. And even Cumberbatch is a flippin’ saint compared to, say, Casey Affleck.
I do adore Christian Slater’s expression though. But really, a bit of an eyeroll is all that’s warranted here.
Wow! Is he in some kind of competition with Lena Dunham as to how narcissistic and delusional they both are while claiming to try to bring awareness? The shocker is not that he won over more deserving performances because the GG gets busted for bribery and fraud every other year, but people did not see this before in his thirsty interviews and famewhore stunts.
Sucks for him because once again he got attention he craves, but all the wrong kind. You would have thought he would have learned after this pass summer blew up in his face.
Oh LEGS. Legs isn’t in a great place inwardly methinks. A little light has gone out inside LEGS. That was so well intentioned but he just buggered it up a bit. He’s too eager to please I think that he flounders in these situations and is really extra. He doesn’t deserve the crucifixtion he got for ‘the best debacle’ though. STATS Britain said it best.
He looked like a dressed up scarecrow, sorry… The speech was eyerolls on eyerolls
He has always been very self absorbed when talking about his work and things HE does, he likes to tell stories about himself, on set or in the preparation for roles, over and over in interviews. He’s just never been called out on it before because no one, outside of his dedicated fans, really knew who he was or didn’t really give a shit, he always seemed so harmless before. Then Hiddleswift happened and he made an enormous tit of himself and if he keeps on making tit of himself he will continue to get dragged for it. Lets face it this humblebragging isnt anything new with him, but now people are noticing. Especially when he is winning awards for a role, which most people will agree, he didnt deserve. This whole thing stinks he whores himself and his family out for a summer as what looked like one last ditch attempt at please notice me for hollywood ‘fame’ and now he wins a golden globe for a very mediocre peformance in an alright show. And before those people come on here saying I didnt understand the character, thats how he was supposed to be bla bla. I had read the book and hiddles did not do a good job. Its almost like you can see him going through the scene in his head. I’m genuinely surprised, looks like Tiddlesbanging paid off after all. I think he does care about his unicef work to some degree but I find him very disingenuous at the same time. Used to be a big fan. Really not anymore. Sad because his Loki and hollow crown was some of the best performances of his generation at the time.
I don’t think he deserved it, no. An overhyped and overrated show all round. It seemed like the fact that the production was lush and glossy and drenched in money and prestige counted more than the quality of the script (or the acting…). So it seemed to me, anyway.
I still sort of like him, but he has a horrible habit of making a tit of himself, sadly. Too keen, too *desperate* perhaps. Why would that be? If he genuinely has the ability (talent, charisma, work ethic etc.) he’ll get there in time. He doesn’t seem content somehow to just get on with the work and let that do the talking though. It’s all “how can I fast-track myself to the top of the pile?”, and after this absurd summer, possibly by any means necessary by the looks of it.
Rather than helping him, I think this sort of attitude might be his undoing in the long-run. I also think the ‘prize’ seems to be fame and fortune, and NOT doing brilliant work, which makes him look a little immature. I don’t think it would particularly engender respect either from some of his peers who may be more focussed on the craft than the frippery.
TL;DR: I kinda wish he’d stop shooting himself in the foot, that’s all. Maybe he’s not as smart as a lot of people give him credit for.
But genuinely being a good and hard-working actor isn’t enough for a steady career. If it were, we wouldn’t be having all this conversation about unfairness of HW. He’s an educated white dude, which helps in a lot of aspetcs, but there are other educated white dudes who are good actors, too. He has to do *something* to keep up.
He’s lucky, tho. After TS mess and this mess (although this is minor and won’t be news in 3 days), and even if the monkey movie bombs, he still has at least one Marvel movie – possibly Infinity Wars as well. He still has a couple of years of second chances.
I hope he thanks Kenneth Branagh daily in his mind.
True. You need something ‘extra’ I guess. HW’s a tough business. I don’t think a showmance with TS was it though, and neither is his slightly goofy (albeit sometimes endearing) look-at-me antics.
Marvel and Branagh gave him the initial break, but one feels he’s still furiously trying to capitalise on that before the window of opportunity closes. Personally I still think he can carve a niche for himself in other ways (theatre one of them perhaps, ‘cos he’s good in that sphere) that will ensure greater long-term success. Might not be as ‘spectacular’ as being the sudden toast of HW as the lead in a mega-blockbuster (he’s hoping for that with Kong, presumably) but it might garner him more respect and critical acclaim (and more continuous offers of work) in the long-run. It’s never too late I don’t think. And there’s probably no such thing as an overnight success – well very rarely.
He just won a Golden Globe. He is coming off an Emmy nomination for the same role. He has two blockbusters coming out this year. His career is fine.
@Lightpurple
Yes, by any objective measure, at least at this point in time. To someone outside the profession (me) he’s honestly going great guns. I still think he’s not where he wants to be though. Not yet. And he didn’t *need* to do that stupid stunt with TS.
Uh-huh, I don’t think he wants to close the big doors yet. He explained in interviews how he always admired big films as a kid and wanted to be a part of that. So I think he’ll keep trying in that arena, while keeping TV (which is gaining on importance anyway) and theatre and smaller films for when he finds the scripts he loves, but not as a main choice just yet.
Lightpurple, I agree in general, but the past 2 years have not been kind to him. He had two movie flops (although his performance in both was highly praised, so was his work ethic, so I think he wasn’t damaged by it) and the Taylor Swift romance was treated by some people like it’s the worse thing he could have done. But I also believe the absence of future projects (save one) on IMDB means Infinity Wars, which means he has some certified successful films in his future too. This GG thing will blow off pretty soon.
@Crox
No he won’t, of course not. Nor should he. I’m only thinking that it could be helpful to try and build up a large body of work – in any medium: TV, theatre, radio or film – that will establish him as a major name. Maybe he is trying to do that rather than concentrating more particularly on (big) films, I don’t know.
Also taking roles that are not necessarily lead roles would be good too, provided the scripts are good and it’s something interesting or challenging. I just get the feeling he mainly wants big, leading man parts preferably in major productions straight off the bat, without broadening and increasing his experience and repertoire first. I could be wrong.
It doesn’t have to be an instant jump to HW leading man status. I think he can still do it later on; it might be more likely if he’s got more on his CV and more experience generally. (Only problem I suppose is if he only wants to be an action-hero type – then his time window may be a bit narrower.)
Eh, hark at me. He can manage his own career! (Or not as the case may be :p)
I think he’s afraid of the two curses: actors in supporting roles mainly remain actors in supporting roles; and when you get big on TV, the jump to the big screen is much harder than the other way around. AMC Movie Talk covered these topics a while ago and it was really insightful.
Yeah, could be, point taken. I don’t think being in a smash hit TV show called Sherlock did his friend Cumberbatch any harm, mind.
Nothing is absolute. For every Cumberbatch you have various attempts of cast of That 70s Show, Beverly Hills, Friends (bar Anniston) etc., all trying and most failing. We’ll see in a couple of years how the cast of modern shows (like GoT and BBT) does on the silver screen. TV is of higher quality now, so perhaps it will work out better.
(Quite a lot of movie actors start on TV, too. It’s just that it’s a tough competition and people already regularly on film have better chances.)
He is constantly working. Most actors would be quite happy to have his career, moving between quirky indies, blockbusters, television mini-series, and theater. And if we’re going to worry about actors suffering flops: Michael Fassbender and Joseph Gordon-Levitt both seem to be on a sad roll too. I think all of them will be fine.
Don’t forget Hemsworth, he’s had a string of big-budget flops too. They will all be fine. They may not get giant super-star salaries for their next gigs, but all will still continue to get work.
As @Uh-huh said, all of the above examples prove just how hard it is to string together a stellar Hollywood career. An actor can get every break in the world and their career can still falter. The right combination of talent, timing, and sheer dumb luck is a rare combination.
@Uh-huh,
I think something happened behind the scenes that spooked him. Right around the release of his two movies that didn’t do so well. Afterward, he was ‘seen’ with EO in what I now see as a dress rehearsal for Taylor. Perhaps he thought he wasn’t moving as fast as he would have liked? Or perhaps he realized that playing Loki forever and ever wouldn’t get him where he wanted to be.
Either way, something happened which lead to everything that has been mentioned. He probably thought that getting media attention would be the easiest fastest way to get where he wants to be because hard work just wasn’t working. We on the outside may think his career is going great, but we’re not insiders so who knows how it’s perceived by him or his handlers.
He came across as a completely self absorbed tool. The audiences reactions were hilarious though!
RADA should really add a course for its students and graduates on how to give an acceptance speech.
Tom meant well and I think if he had spoken differently, it could have been one of the best speeches of the night. But his tendency to ramble – plus, if I had to guess, nerves – doomed him.
I honestly feel bad for him. For all his thirstiness, I do think he was expressing genuine sentiment, and it bugs me that he’s getting slammed for it while Casey Affleck just got the nod of approval.
RADA, SAG, agents, the various PR people. All should hammer home that an awards show is nothing more than another performance – the actor just happens to be playing themselves. The audience wants a good show. If they didn’t, the winners would just receive their trophies via FedEx. Actors have to be very good at making scripted lines seem heartfelt and unrehearsed, that’s their job. So is overcoming nerves. The notion that it’s bad luck to prepare something is just daft.
Not even themselves – the public version of themselves. But I agree that they need to prepare. Really, for most actors, you want your speech to be forgettable.
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, no!! Is what I was saying out loud as I cringed watching his acceptance speech.
Poor guy. It’s one of those things where you know he’s a good, decent, man and he meant well but he has social disorders in front of crowds and his story just went….sideways. I felt terrible for him watching live. The looks on the audience faces is exactly what I was feeling. Like what, he’s saying something meaningful about South Sudan and he’s going to talk about their……oh wait…is he….no….um…..SERIOUSLY!! All that was to say how these lovely humanitarian workers helping these needy citizens of South Sudan……just loved The Night Manager. And i, Tom Hiddleston, am so grateful and humbled I could help in any way.
Just died a slow death watching that whole thing go down. And I still feel terribly sorry for him.
I think it was the “watching live” that gave it that extra depth of awkwardness. He started by saying he was going to tell a story which had me sitting forward. I’m thinking this will be good. Then halfway thru I’m just confused. Then increasingly uncomfortable. Then uh, no. The big finish is they liked Night Manager?
He’s a fairly harmless person but his ego and self absorbed humble bragging ways has always been something he’s struggled to contain. When he goes of leash it results in embarrassing face palm episodes like this.
I am more upset he actually won. He really didn’t deserve to win for that performance. It was stiff and at best a two dimensional performance and easily one of the worst in Tnn, which itself was overhyped and hardly deserved a seat at the table with the supposedly best shows of the year.
It seems to me he was rewarded for the Taylor swift, as in raising his profile helped him win the award over a more deserving yet less high profile performance such as for instance his fellow Englishman Riz Ahmed.
I didn’t love Tom or Hugh’s performances in Night Manager. They’re both good actors, but I don’t think either fully captured their characters and so the dynamic between those two that was supposed to be central to the whole miniseries never developed the way the story needed. Tom Hollander and Olivia Colman were the strengths of that particular cast.
So for all I think the Golden Globes are not the most legitimate of award shows, I do wonder if part of the appeal of The Night Manager to the “voters” was the subject matter and the more international setting.
They aren’t called the Hollywood Foreign Press for nothing. They routinely give a great many awards to their fellow Englishmen, Frenchmen, etc. IMO, I know to expect the foreign born stars are going to get the majority of the awards and I have no problem with that because many times they are more deserving. But, last night might have been the most blatant example of showing extreme partiality. The very idea that Aaron Taylor-Johnson won over the actors in that category was ridiculous and when Hugh Laurie won, I said to my daughter, Tom Hiddleston will win too. The HFPA really showed their bias last night or maybe it was just well placed gifts. Who cares! Too many more things in the world to worry over than if a known thirsty, try hard actor will receive an award or not. His speech certainly didn’t do any favors for the HFPA, just made it more obvious that any win is really invalid and not legitimate. Talent, poof what’s that? Apparently nothing to the HFPA. BTW, I think they also missed the boat in giving a silly musical so many awards, it didn’t deserve them either. End or rant.
Oh, agree – I’m honestly kind of over awards shows in general because the movies aren’t even about making good movies anymore. It’s about making award bait movies and sucking up to the right people.
I live in LA, I overall like the city, and even I’m annoyed by the twee-ness of La La Land.
As for Night Manager, I watched it because I like the director and the cast, and I think it’s surprising it was even nominated as much as it was. Although I do have to give it to the HFPA: by giving the win to Hiddleston, we did all get quite a bit of entertainment today.
Given that Fox News and a good number of the people on Twitter and Commentland think he was talking about Sudan, not the completely separate country of South Susan, it would seem awareness does need to be raised.
Don’t talk sense, Lightpurple. It’s wasted. This incident is also the very definition of “tempest in a teapot” One thing about being old is that you realize how fleeting all this crap is. However, I feel sorry for Tom as this garbage overshadows a deserved award.
Edit: South Sudan, not South Susan. That’s what I get for typing on the T
Most cringe-worthy
When Tom Hiddleston accepted the award for his lead role in “The Night Manager,” he started talking about his humanitarian work in South Sudan. It certainly seemed like he was going to start talking about how trivial all of this Hollywood nonsense is compared to the atrocities that are happening over there. We’ve certainly seen those types of speeches at awards shows before. But Hiddleston’s speech had a twist ending. Instead, he talked about how the humanitarian aid workers over there had binge-watched his miniseries — when they weren’t dealing with shelling — and had praised his work.
Well, he certainly wins points for originality.
Washington post
😂
Raising awareness is fine, Lightpurple–that’s not the issue and no one is saying it is. His delivery was more about himself and his TV series than raising awareness, and the legitimate criticism for it is deserved.
I saw the show, no need for your recap. Yes, legitimate criticism is fine; I acknowledged that above. But piling on really is not necessary. And again, critics should always have the facts straight, which many do not and THAT was my point.
I’m far more irked by his win than his speech, which, through cringe-making, was, I’m sure, well-intentioned and just him failing to edit himself.
He was by far the weakest and woodenest link in TNM.
I’m afraid so, yes.
Like him in a lot of stuff, but he was thoroughly unconvincing in TNM. Pine was a good name for him 😉
It boggles my mind that he got a GG for that performance. And it kinda makes me wonder whether really, him and his team are just trying to schmooze him to the top in any way, shape or form that they can. He comes across as fairly decent, if a little clueless, so I find that thought somewhat depressing.
Tom, you just saw 12+ winners get up and give speeches. You know you only have 40 seconds tops. Save the story for Twitter or interviews after. Why are you trying to tell a room full of actors that what they do is important in its own little way? Why go there? Half of them are trying to figure out why you won over the others and the other half what they know you from.
Honest question: Do you think the actors in the room actually saw all the TV-shows to make an informed opinion on who should win over others? Hell, I’m not even sure if the people voting have.
He seems to have very poor judgement. Which is odd for someone who’s supposedly intelligent and has been in the game long enough to understand time and place. I’d have thought that the summer of love backlash would have sobered him up but apparently not.
His need to be more than he is draining and off-putting.
If you follow Tom on Twitter you know he wants to be all about Unicef and that is admirable. But there was not time to work that in.
I’m a writer, and I don’t think the problem was the story. The problem was he needed revisions.
There was no way he had time to say thanks and tell the story.
This is a shame. Hiddles is actually a really good actor.
He’s ok. Highly overrated though. Hugely carried by his thirst for publicity and clever marketing as a sort of modern day downton abbey Lord of the manor type (Americans seem to have great thirst for throw back Englishmen).
His problem isn’t his thirst (they’re all thirsty); it’s his inability to hide it.
^^^ This.
Lol his new nickname on the internet is Tom Cringeton.
He wishes it was Tom Humanitarianton. Alas…
Ahahahahahahahaha, well at least he’s always memorable!
*crying with laughter*
Still can’t believe that this mug won over Courtney B. Vance AND Bryan Cranston.
Between the whole Swift business and that appalling “speech”, I’m starting to think this guy gets his jollies from widespread and public humiliation.
I was exhausted on this from last night. The bigger stories for me: how Casey Affleck harassment cases are getting little coverage and how Hollywood can minimize two films with African American leads – Hidden Fences. Why is this Tom’s speech more cringe worthy than that. Perspective …….
Trying to figure that out too, since I read the title of this article. SMH.
And he has issued an apology.
Has he? Crikey.
It’s posted on his fb page.
Yes. On his FB page. And it very much seems like his writing, not that of a publicist.
Lightpurple – think there might have been another hand in the writing, whilst not denying it expresses TH’s thoughts and feelings. I only say this because I think TH would know to use “wrongly” instead of the “wrong” as used.
@Dippit, well, maybe he asked someone to review it for him, as all people should do when releasing something for public consumption. But it is very much his writing style as seen in the articles he has penned for The Guardian and other newspapers.
What? Now I’m actually angry. He was bullied into this although he didn’t mean anything bad in the first place. I hope most of you are now happy.
Eh? It’s a shame he feels like he needed to do that really. He didn’t need to, but then again he must be super conscious of the image he creates publically (I won’t mention TS, oops!) and how that affects his personal standing WRT his career…
I still think he means well, even though he keeps doing stupid/inept things. He’s still likeable IMO – although not according to everyone, clearly.
If I can indulge my penchant for tinfoil-hat conspiracies…I wonder if he has a project that is ready to be announced and he needs this whole thing to blow over in a hurry. Or a studio may be close to signing him for something big/prestigious (not Bond) but were on the fence.
I’m surprised he apologized, if there isn’t something pending, this whole thing would have quickly blown over and Tom could have just waited it out, or eaten a little crow during the press for the upcoming Monkey Movie.
This would blow over by the end of the week when all gossip sites catch up with the Golden Globes. And then it would be mentioned with other bad speeches in the future (this it still will be). I honestly believe this time the internet bullying got to him, and unlike with Taylor Swift, where he could shrug it off as personal, this is his professional life.
I wonder how many sites will publish the apology as well. Not many, I suspect. It’s not half as fun as punching a man when he’s down.
Yeah, maybe.
Maybe he just thought it would make him look better overall to immediately acknowledge that he was nervous and didn’t come over as well as he’d have liked. After all the situation was ‘fixable’ this time, in a way that the TS tour of love debacle wasn’t (an NDA in place there I fancy).
Always interested to hear about a new upcoming gig though.
Yes, I’m angry too and I don’t usually get invested into celebrity life and gossip. You are right, he was bullied into an apology for a well meaning speech, after that very same night a sexual harraser won an award without anyone blinking an eye. I just cannot understand people.
@fruitloops Please understand I’m not giving Casey Affleck a pass because personally I think he is scummy but as of yet he is only an “alleged” sexual harrasser (at least I don’t recall that he has been tried in court and found guilty) and poor old Tom was right there in front of everyones face showing his stupidity and thirst. It was hard to miss so I guess that would be the reason Casey was not thrown to wolves yet. If he is guilty (of course he is) then his time will come.
Fruit loops – ita. Imagine if a powerful A-lister had given that same speech – that bunch would’ve hung on his every word and kissed his feet for months afterward. TH doesn’t have clout, and the jackals have piled on. Sorry for the silly imagery, but I’ve been uncomfortable with the press he’s been getting today. Unnecessarily brutal.
TotallyOld – Affleck settled in civil court with his accusers. That’s as close as you can get to an admission of guilt. His time has come and HW collectively shrugged. Meanwhile, for the high crime of flubbing an acceptance speech, TH has been crucified. Totally understandable, right?
@Lacia Can, I’m sorry, I just have to step in here with my attorney who handles workplace sexual harassment cases, but no, a settlement in such cases is not an admission of guilt. In most of these cases, the people, colleagues, still work together and have to see each other on a daily basis. The courts that hear these cases are understaffed and overworked. Litigation is extremely expensive for all parties. Courts encourage parties to settle in order to save everyone time and expense. And most of these cases do settle because a mutual agreement to financial terms can be reached that is far less than the costs of pursuing the litigation would be. I’m also going to cite one of the best known sexual harassment cases. Jones v Clinton. Jones lost her case on a summary judgement motion before it even went to trial. She appealed on a procedural issue, whether a case could go forward against a sitting president, and her appeal went through several levels up to the Supreme Court, which ruled on that issue and remanded back to the original court, where she lost AGAIN on a Motion to Dismiss, not an actual trial, because she couldn’t meet even the most basic standard of probable cause to proceed. She appealed this decision again. At this point, defending it had cost both Clinton and Jones millions. He settled it for several hundred thousand dollars just to make it finally go away because it was a distraction from everything. Jones herself never saw a dime of that money – it went to pay her legal fees and she still owed her lawyers money. Again, she LOST. TWICE. Without a trial. So, no, a settlement is not mean guilty.
I’m not saying you aren’t justified in disliking Casey Affleck, I’m just explaining the legalities and why someone might settle when there is no proof of guilt.
An A-lister would have gotten crucified. Clooney still gets shit from his Oscar speech from 11 years ago, which was along the same lines.
I can’t anymore. I think my Hiddlesboner is impotent and there’s no amount of internet viagra that can revive it.
From his FB page
I just wanted to say… I completely agree that my speech at the Golden Globes last night was inelegantly expressed. In truth, I was very nervous, and my words just came out wrong. Sincerely, my only intention was to salute the incredible bravery and courage of the men and women who work so tirelessly for UNICEF UK, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and World Food Programme, and the children of South Sudan, who continue to find hope and joy in the most difficult conditions. I apologise that my nerves got the better of me.
And in a world where Donald Trump got elected for president after god knows how many truly offensive statements…this man apologizes for awkwardly mentioning humanitarians and organizations…. SMH
Yep
Yes. Our great nation awaits the soon to be Commander in Chief’s apology for making fun of a person with a disability. Meanwhile, one of the nicest people in show business has to grovel. As for Mr. Affleck, no one in Hollywood wants to go there.
This is a clear case of the pendulum swinging WAY too far the other way.
TMZ just gave Tom a nice shout out, btw. Poor boo.
Poor LEGS. I’m sorry but I’m still laughing. It’s just as well I don’t believe in heaven, cos I’d never get there. Mr Sixer says, “You’re such a cow, Sixer. You write a better one, then.”
Here’s my effort:
“Well, I dicked that up didn’t I?! Sorry and THANKS FOR THE AWARD. Please love MSF and UNICEF more than me. They’re worth it.”
I think the inclusion of an interrobang makes it.
Sixer, you’re only “evil in training.” You are mostly hilarious. I actually make fun of some celebrities at times. It’s just that young Mr. H. is my “pretend son” . [ I have to say I died laughing when he and Swift attended that Selena Gomez concert]. Your husband calls you Sixer?
Sometimes he calls me by my real name. Other times he calls me Great Gob Almighty (and I am not making that up).
Brilliant. But it needs to be accompanied by a shower of Hershey’s Kisses. Because I’m cranky and need chocolate. And LEGS must accommodate ME and my moods at all times.
I love a good interrobang I do. I have an ancient typewriter key proper single symbol one which I had made into a pendant years ago. I’ll never understand why it didn’t last long as an official punctuation. Thankfully the internet has somewhat revived it but I still want the single symbol back
YOU need to be his speechwriter, Sixer.
I was unaware that there was a name for the “?!” combo I frequently use. Thanks for learnin’ me something new!
In addition to the shower of chocolate candies that must rain down upon us all as Thomas William (his naughty step name) recites Sixer’s revised speech for us all; I have decided that there should be a new category of awards, rated like Olympic medals Gold, Silver, and Bronze. These awards shall be entitled The Vince Vaughn Stink Face Award and shall be awarded to those people who, while discussing anything that may help anyone in the world in any way, illicit an expression from Vince Vaughn like the one pictured above or this one https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C1t2U1CVIAA4p-Y.jpg:large
So, for last night the Gold Medal for the Vince Vaughn Stink Face Award goes, of course, to Ms Meryl. Thomas William gets the Silver. The Bronze is still open and we are accepting nominees.
I appreciate the apology but how did exactly that come out wrong? If he just wanted to salute aid workers, he never would have brought his show into it.
It can’t just be nerves, it’s also a lack of self-awareness…he didn’t even realize how self-centered he was being. Hopefully he’ll more careful about letting that slip through going forward.
Is fudge any good, lightpurple? Cos I got loads for Christmas and there is still some left?
Ann – he will NEVER get the tone right. This suits me down to the ground because it means I will NEVER have to stop laughing at him. Look at it this way – we can all agree he is the slowest of slow learners, but at least he has finally realised that whinging about posh-bashing isn’t a good look and doesn’t do that one any more. Baby steps, baby steps.
@Sixer
Your apology is ten times better because, guess what, it’s not about you! Instead you shift the focus on someone else who is more important. His apology is still about him.
@Ann
One wonders whether the apology only appeared for the purposes of damage limitation (and approval-seeking), and not because he genuinely thought “shit, I botched that up”. I thought the apology was pretty gracious though.
He’s never been above a spot of humble bragging or name dropping when the occasion suits. He’s probably too polite to ever become one of those “don’t you know who I am?!” types but I think he could use a bit more self-awareness, yeah. He’s living in a cosy bubble I think.
@Sixer, yes, fudge is good.
Rum and raisin flavour? Or clotted cream?
LP, I’d suggest Donald Glover’s first rambling speech of the night for the bronze award. Dude needs a speechwriter badly.
Hand over the fudge, Sixer, it’s gonna be a long day. Happy Invoicing, dear.
JFC, he doesn’t even have the balls to gracefully let it slide. No he has to apologise to save face and then make the apology an excuse and all about him, again…
Give the boy a break. He apologized because he did not want the “controversy” to overshadow the charities. Why people pick on this most harmless of celebrities is a mystery to me.
@ A Key – Let me guess – whatever he does is wrong?
Well, wrong is a bit strong, spidey. Twattish is also strong but quite accurate.
You don’t succeed in a shout-out for humanitarian workers if you shove self-love into it. You don’t succeed at apologising for your twattishness by whining that poor you was nervous; you double down on the bad impression.
I have no doubt that LEGS has a heart in the right place. But he’s not a two-year-old, unable to conceive of a world outside himself. He’s an adult with that inability of conception. He really should grow up.
I think the idea of saying that art or entertainment is valuable to people working in challenging circumstances is fine, at least in the abstract. That may have been the exalted point he was trying to get across – I’m being charitable here, mind.
Trying to do that by connecting it to a rambling story about his personal experience on a charity expedition and then capping it off by basically saying he was proud they liked his TV show was pretty gauche and tasteless however. I dunno, it was almost like he was trying to validate the ‘worthiness’ of his win with the expectation that the celebrity audience would join in with him (“hey, acting and TV shows are so *important* aren’t they everyone?” etc.). Then he’s all surprised that it fell flat. smh
I reckon he was nervous though. And it may have been a genuine, at least partial, explanation for why it went belly up.
Hes the male Lena Dunham.
So basically, damned if you help, damned if you don’t. However, if you think about it, the people who are receiving the aid are grateful; but certain group of people, who are looking in from the outside and not even bothering to land a helping hand, are the ones creating such absurd terms like “white saviorism,”
I fast forwarded most of the show just to see Tom Win! He was great in TNM! It’s ok for people to get nervous & awkward 🙂
it was a very pleasant surprise
I was surprised too. I was happy for him that he got nominated. Winning, I just didn’t see that coming. I don’t think people in US realize how popular TNM was in the rest of the world, especially UK of course. The GG are selected by the (& voted?) Hollywood Foreign Press Association. So I assume that the Foreign Press had a lot to do with some of the winners like the French actress from Elle.
I can agree with much of the criticisms of his speech. As a fan I am embarrassed for him, especially because this was the biggest night of his career, and he’s worked really hard to get here even despite his errors of judgment (or bad management) this past year.
But from a broader, more detached perspective I don’t think his speech in general came off as bad as us bitchy fans, snarkers, haters, and 2-cent gossip loafers are making it out to be. I was watching with my mom, and she thought pretty well of him and his speech. Even in my first reaction I didn’t think it was absolutely terrible, although I wished it was better. But I’m a fan, and I’m used to, well, Tom being Tom.
Still I’ve been checking around other media sites, Guardian, YouTube, and the general consensus is that a big deal is be made out of nothing. As far as the general public is concerned, they see Tom as the victim of entertainment media and nasty social media tweeters that tear people down for any small mistake.
Like this comment on a YT vid:
“its just a whole load of overblown rubbish that’s been picked out so they can shoot him down. It really makes me sick of this twitter generation news media.”
Most all the comments were of this opinion to one degree or another.