Awards season is on the way, which for celebrities probably means a lot of spray-tanning, but for the rest of the world, it means speculating who will win what. You probably want to know who's hosting the 2018 Golden Globes before the battle begins. It turns out that Seth Meyers, one of everyone's top-five white male late-night TV show hosts, will host the Globes. Now that that's settled, feel free to start arguing with your friends over which movie really deserves to win Best Motion Picture.
The show will air on NBC on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018, and it will be an exciting way to kick off the year, though the announcement of Meyers' hosting role hasn't exactly gone un-critiqued. That's mostly because a article published by Forbes bearing the headline, "The Golden Globes need a feminist host this year, and Seth Meyers fits the bill," has been deemed tone-deaf. The problem with stating that Meyers proves the most "feminist" host possible suggests that no woman could have taken on the role. It's as if Forbes didn't even consider a woman as a potential awards show host, even though Amy Poehler and Tina Fey hosted the Golden Globes to the biggest audience the Golden Globes drew in six years, as the article noted.
As you can imagine, people on Twitter reacted with harsh criticism to Forbes' suggestion that a man hosting an awards show could be considered a feminist move.
Of course, nobody was criticizing Meyers himself, but it does seem like a strange year to choose a straight white cisgender man to host anything. With Hollywood's sexual assault problem coming to light, the entertainment industry would greatly benefit from offering big-time roles like hosting major awards show to women. At a time when powerful figures like Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump have both been accused of committing sexual assault against women (which Weinstein apologized for and Trump has denied), more women should be getting the opportunities which so frequently go to men — like hosting awards shows. If that doesn't happen, the hierarchal system that favors men will only continue to exist.
As a slew of Twitter users pointed out, the Golden Globes have tons of options for women and people of color to host. A few people suggested Tiffany Haddish, who recently hosted Saturday Night Live and did exceptionally well to nobody's surprise. Others suggested Laverne Cox, who would undoubtedly do just as good a job as Meyers if given the opportunity. Some just lamented the loss of Poehler and Fey as co-hosts of the show, and rightly so.
As far as male Golden Globes hosts go, Meyers was a great choice, as he has a great track record with using his platform to speak about issues that threaten women and people of color. He's in good company, too, as a few other late-night TV show hosts have proven to take more risks with their political messages than most people have seen in the past. Just this week, John Oliver confronted Dustin Hoffman about the sexual harassment allegations against the actor (which Hoffman suggested were fabricated, but he also apologized), and he demonstrated how men can and should be better allies to women. Jimmy Kimmel also has stepped up recently to criticize the GOP's healthcare plan and outwardly opposing men's rights advocates.
Even though women have largely been cut out from the late night talk show sphere — with the exception of Samantha Bee, of course — the late-night hosts who currently hold those positions are at least doing a good job of advocating for those who don't.
There's no doubt that Meyers will be a solid host for the upcoming Golden Globes. He most likely will make sure to roast all of the alleged predators who deserve roasting and highlight the brilliance female nominees who deserve being celebrated. Hopefully, even with a man as its host, the show will include lots of intersectional feminism and tear-inducing acceptance speeches advocating for change in Hollywood.
