The 80th Golden Globe Awards took place Tuesday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The event aired on NBC and Peacock. (They weren’t broadcast last year after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association earned itself some scorn.)
Host Jerrod Carmichael pushed some boundaries — as is the norm for Golden Globes hosts. But he went pretty dark.
“So, we are here, live,” he said as the show returned from a commercial break, “from the hotel that killed Whitney Houston: the Beverly Hilton.”
Oof.
Ms. Houston died in a Beverly Hilton hotel room on February 11, 2012. Her death was ruled an accidental drowning with contributing factors of heart disease and cocaine use.
I possess a quirky, dark sense of humor. (On the way to my mother’s graveside service — which was held during the cold and snow of a North Dakota winter — I mused to my sister, “Do you think the ground is thawed enough to plant Mom today?”) And it’s a given that the Globes will feature controversial lines, some raunchiness, drunken attendees, and bad language will all be part of the show.
But even I thought the line was pretty flat.
Had something directly related to the hotel caused Ms. Houston’s death, that might’ve landed a little better. Or if it were a good play on words. (Side note: a friend told me about the Instagram account “Humans of Spirit Airlines.” See? That’s funny!) Maybe make some joke about not getting enough points for her stay being inconvenienced. (Even that is meh.) But saying the hotel killed her? That’s lazy, man. And just not really funny.
If celebrities-dying-in-hotel-rooms is fodder for Carmichael, then I suggest he take his act to a Four Seasons lounge. I’m sure even Bob Saget would find some humor in it.
According to TMZ, “It’s unclear if anyone at NBC knew [Carmichael] was going to mention Whitney during his hosting gig — in the moment, his remark seemed off the cuff … and it very well may have been.”
Old Tech to Blame for the FAA Outage?
You probably already heard there was a nationwide groundstop issued across the United States airports early Wednesday.
This USA Today piece confirms what an airline employee told me today: the FAA is working on a very outdated computer system.
After this post loads, I’ll run down to Western Union to see if I can telegram the FAA for comment.
Speaking of archaic tech:
Here’s What Happened to Southwest’s Execs
Remember Southwest Airlines’ epic meltdown blamed on old computers and weather?
Guess what consequences befell some the company’s upper management?
Job terminations? Suspensions? Demotions? Pay cuts?
Elsewhere
Are year-round Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights about to become a thing — in Las Vegas?
Did you see the scary moment when a Delta plane’s engine caught fire? Holy smokes.
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Maybe we can save some of the billions that are to be used to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to help
The FAA get a high tech company to put them into a new computerized modern system to prevent future issues!!
Sounds like it should have been part of the infrastructure bill. But let’s push ATC as far as we’ve pushed the bridges in our country…
It seems that award show hosts and the shows themselves need to be held liable for comments. Carmichael and Chris Rock need some lawsuits against them. How it’s ok for them to make comments like these and yet someone like Will Smith is banned for a decade is beyond me. The Beverly Hilton needs to take action.
I understand he’s going for shock value, but the incident happened over 10 years ago. If Whitney died, say, last week? A month ago? It would hit a little harder.
I hate the beds at the Beverly Hilton, way too hard for me. Way over rated hotel, imho. Do not waste your time, points and money at this hotel.
I will not watch Globes until Ricky comes back to host!
He was the best, wasn’t he?
I’ve been to the Beverly Hilton probably 60 times — all for work. Never once stayed there. I’ve worked in suites that were converted into office spaces. The rooms are fine — though the sliding bathroom door without a lock freaks me out when I’m working alongside 25 people.