Hollywood woke up nice and early Wednesday morning to watch the Golden Globe nominations get announced. And whether it was the early call time or the pressure of live TV, presenters Sarah Jessica Parker and Taraji P. Henson flubbed a few of the names.
“Good morning, everybody,” Parker kicked things off from New York. “I’m very excited to share this information with you.”
Things got off to a good start with some easy-to-pronounce shows like “The Great” and “Ted Lasso.” But SJP seemed to be thrown while reading the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama category, calling Riz Ahmed “Riz Achmed.” After being distracted by something off camera, she returned to reading from her notes and mispronounced Ahmed’s name for a second time.
Henson, the morning’s other presenter, also slipped up. She called Laura Linney “Laura Linley,” mispronounced “The Comey Rule” as “The Commie Rule” and said Carey Mulligan’s name as “Cherry Mulligan.”
When the actresses returned later with more nominations, their struggles continued.
After nailing Swedish composer Ludwig Goransson’s name, SJP then called his movie “Tenant” instead of “Tenet.”
Like Parker, Henson mentioned her nerves and presciently said, “Artists, we’re so vulnerable, what we do. We get criticized, critiqued.”
Henson then had the unenviable task of reading the foreign language films, including “La Llorona” (she got close). And we can also forgive her for stumbling on “The Mauritanian.” But she then mistook Florian Zeller for “Florina” and later pronounced Jason Sudeikis’ last name as “Sudakis” (like Ludacris).
After she finished, Henson breathed a sigh of relief.
This writer is going to give them a pass because he, too, was up at 4:30 am. But Twitter users were slightly less forgiving:
Sarah Jessica Parker just said "Riz Achmed" TWICE#GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/sUNsNvFyqj
— Ren Geekness (@RenGeekness) February 3, 2021
much respect to Sarah Jessica Parker for calling it “Tenant”
— Carrie Wittmer 👻 (@carriesnotscary) February 3, 2021
"Laura Linley" #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/cguzR2DyJn
— ShaneAvery (@ShaneAvery) February 3, 2021
happy for cherry mulligan
— randi bergman (@randibergman) February 3, 2021
i will never forgot taraji pronouncing jason sudeikis’s name like jadakiss
— malice 🏁 (@galifianapkins) February 3, 2021
You know Taraji P. Henson is nervous when she reads out Florina Zeller. #GoldenGlobes #nomination #TarajiHenson
— JustaCinephile (@myoscarpredict1) February 3, 2021
Revisit the announcement above and see the Golden Globes on Feb. 28.