»Read Standard Version«
Brendan Fraser has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his acclaimed performance in Darren Aronofsky’s new film “The Whale,” but he will not be attending the Jan. 10 ceremony.
Philip Berk, the former head of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), allegedly sexually abused the 53-year-old actor. The 89-year-old Berk has vehemently disputed the charges.
Fraser told GQ in an interview last month, “I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I do respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,” adding that he will “not participate” in a Golden Globes show.
“It’s because of my past with them,” he continued. “My mother did not raise me to be a hypocrite. You may call me many names, but not that.”
Fraser said that the alleged attack occurred at a luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2003 in a separate interview with GQ in 2018.
“His [Berk’s] left hand swings around and holds my cheek, and one of his fingers brushes my taint. And he begins to manipulate it,” the actor asserted. “I felt unwell. I felt like a tiny kid. I had the sensation of a ball in my throat. I believed I was going to cry.”
Fraser asserted that he “felt despondent” as a result of the encounter, stating, “I was blaming myself and I was miserable, because I was thinking, ‘This is nothing; this man reached around and got a feel.’”
Fraser did not report the claimed attack at the time, but his representatives asked the HFPA for a written apology, which Berk subsequently provided.
“My apologies confessed no fault; it was the standard, ‘If I did anything to offend Mr. Fraser, it was unintentional and I apologize’” Berk told GQ in 2018. He stated that Fraser’s account of the events was “completely false.”
In the same year, the HFPA conducted an investigation that stated, “Although Berk inappropriately touched Mr. Fraser, the evidence suggests that it was meant as a joke and not a sexual advance.”
Berk remained a voting member of the HFPA until 2021, when he was expelled for portraying Black Lives Matter in an email to fellow members as a “racist hate movement.”
In recent years, the Golden Globes have come under scrutiny, with the HFPA being criticized for a lack of diversity and ethical lapses. The ceremony from the previous year did not air on primetime when NBC dropped it.
Despite Fraser’s promise to boycott the event, the organization has committed improvement and will proceed with the 2023 show.
Fraser is nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for his performance in “The Whale” as a 600-pound professor. He faces Austin Butler in “Elvis”, Hugh Jackman in “The Son”, Bill Nighy in “Living”, and Jeremy Pope in “The Inspection”.
Aronofsky’s “The Whale” has been billed as Fraser’s “comeback” performance.
In September, the film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, when the lead actor cried during a six-minute standing ovation for his performance.
»Brendan Fraser gets a Golden Globe nomination despite swearing not to attend«