Brendan Fraser will not participate in the 2023 Golden Globes should he receive a nomination for Best Actor in a Drama in December.
The “Whale” star, who is earning near-universal acclaim for his portrayal of a 600-pound teacher attempting to reconnect with his daughter, disclosed in 2018 that he was sexually assaulted by a past president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the embattled organization behind the ceremony. He maintains that the HFPA has never apologized to him.
“I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,” Fraser told GQ in a profile published Wednesday. “No, I will not participate.”
In 2018, the actor revealed in a profile by the same magazine that in 2003, Philip Berk groped and assaulted him at a 2003 event in Beverly Hills. Berk disputed this account, in 2018 said he apologized in a letter that admitted “no wrongdoing… the usual ‘If I’ve done anything that upset Mr. Fraser, it was not intended and I apologize.’” The organization says that it has apologized twice to Fraser.
In addition to his history with the HFPA, “my mother didn’t raise a hypocrite,” Fraser said. “You can call me a lot of things, but not that.”
Should the HFPA – which has been trying to rebuild itself since allegations of systemic racism and other instances of sexual assault within its membership first emerged in 2021 – try to make real amends, Fraser said he’d give it consideration.
“… According to rules of engagement, it would be my responsibility to take a look at it and make a determination at that time, if that became the situation,” he said. “And it would have to be, I don’t know, what’s the word I’m looking for… sincere? I would want some gesture of making medicine out of poison somehow. I don’t know what that is. But that would be my hope. But it’s not about me.”
He added, “I would expect that it would be something that would be meaningful for them too.”
HFPA aside, Fraser said he plans to give his full effort to “The Whale”‘s awards campaign: “I owe it to myself. I owe it to the filmmakers. I know I owe it to those fans who paid to come and see me and stand in line in the sun and, you know, all of that. I owe it to my kids. This is my shot.”
“The Whale” debuts in theaters Dec. 9.
