Jada Pinkett Smith speaks her piece when she and the people she cares about get snubbed for awards. Do you remember when she was one of the first people calling out #OscarsSoWhite? She even boycotted the Oscars in 2016. That was on behalf of her husband Will being snubbed for Concussion, which was part of a larger issue that has always loomed over Hollywood and is finally being discussed. Now that the Golden Globe nominations are out, Jada has a few things to say about the fact that Tiffany Haddish, the standout star of her hit comedy Girls Trip, was not recognized. She tweeted that the Hollywood Foreign Press didn’t even screen the film, which they deny. More on that in a moment. Here are some of her tweets about this, which are well put. I’m posting them in order of oldest to newest, so you can read from the top down.
I'm not upset about @TiffanyHaddish or @GirlsTripMovie not getting a nom… I'm discouraged about the fact that the Hollywood Foreign Press/@goldenglobes wouldn't even WATCH the movie.
— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017
Girls Trip was one of the most successful films this summer & Tiff was hands down the funniest person on screen in 2017 and we couldn't get eyes on the film or a press conference. How could a nom happen & how much more critical acclaim must a movie have to simply get a screening?
— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017
But yet… Tiff has been asked to present at their ceremony. This isn't about shaming, this is about the need for discussion of an antiquated system.
— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017
And I dare not invalidate all the many journalist and people from all walks of life who have supported this movie by defining the issue as simply… racism.
— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) December 12, 2017
For their part The Hollywood Foreign Press Assocation, the organization which puts on The Globes, claims they did screen the film. A source told E! News that “the HFPA hosted a Girls Trip screening July 18.” Jada is surely right that GT was not given a press conference and was treated like an afterthought, because she hadn’t even heard about the screening. I like how Jada tried to be magnanimous about this, and how she said this isn’t about shaming or calling people racist. She’ll surely get heat for it anyway. She also called out the HFPA for snubbing The Big Sick (it was later nominated for a couple of SAG Awards) and for classifying Get Out as comedy, which she writes “illuminates the depths of the sunken place… for real.”
Girls Trip was hilarious and awesome and made a sh-tton of money on a small budget. I went with my mom and we were screaming laughing almost the whole time. However I have a couple of friends who disliked it, who thought it was too raunchy and who didn’t find it all that funny. Everyone has different tastes, but I thought the writing and acting were top notch, especially from Haddish. She was robbed for a GG nomination, she wasn’t nominated for a SAG either and of course she’s not going to be nominated for an Academy Award. Movies starring mostly people of color get relegated to the sidelines and judged differently, like they’re a different genre and are not worthy. This never happens to films starring mostly white people. They’re not classified as “white” films. It’s not an issue of comedy or women’s comedy either, Melissa McCarthy was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress her breakout role in Bridesmaids (Update: McCarthy was not nominated for a Globe for Bridesmaids, she was nominated for a Globe for 2016’s spy. For Bridesmaids she received BAFTA and Academy Award nominations for best supporting actress.) You would think that money would talk, but the people who are running things and calling the shots still aren’t listening or even hearing really.
Photos credit: WENN and Universal Pictures
I didn’t find it that funny. It had some moments but overall I wasn’t impressed. I must admit the grapefruit bit made me laugh and go wow, really. And that’s really a thing
I’m one of the people who greatly disliked it. I completely lost interest during the peeing scene. I don’t think this is a race problem, I just think it was an awful movie and many other performances were more deserving. Coming from a black guy, I really think it’s just sad that one of the biggest representations is a raunchy comedy that was poor in my opinion.
I liked the film, but the peeing scene was ridiculous. It looks like they just shook up a 2-liter of Mountain Dew. Completely wrong color. I kind of hate myself for having an opinion on that, lol.
Coming from a woc I’m glad we get to be just as authentically raunchy as anyone else. I prefer this to noble suffer porn. Keep rocking Jada!
This. its not my brand of humor at all but I’m glad we can be ALL instead of whatever white people want us to be.
We CAN be raunchy. Thanks girls trip
Same, that’s when I switched it off.
I haven’t seen so I can’t comment on it one way or another, but I don’t think it was ever going to get a sniff of a nomination no matter how good or successful it might be – Girl’s Trip was unholy trifecta as far as the HFP are concerned; raunchy, female orientated and starring people of colour.
The movie was waste of time. Like that other comedy with ScarJo. No decent comedies this year…
But everyone knows the GGs are bought and paid for. Come on – Brooklyn Nine Nine won best comedy. This is like getting mad over who didn’t get the crappy tin foil trophy at the leg race.
I loved Girls Trip and think Tiffany deserves all the awards! And my boyfriend found it even funnier than I did!
Kudos to jada for talking about this topic….I do think when a movie has mostly a black cast, or Latino…anything not white, it gets pushed to the back and is not taken as seriously.
I still say will smith didn’t deserve a nom for concussion
I wish awards weren’t so important to people in the entertainment industry. I feel like the product would be so much better if the makers were trying to impress audiences instead of critics. Awards are dumb. There’s too much variety and genre to just award a few things every year.
But they aren’t important. Some of the best movies ive seen were trashed by the critics. I take recommendations from people not the awards and critics.
Awards aren’t important to you, but OriginalTessa was talking about people within the industry, not the audience. Awards, even the GGs, are important to many in the industry.
Except for men and women of color awards open doors that seem to only be open a sliver for us. We do not have the privilege to shun awards or recognition.
It was a good comedy and Haddish was great, but there was no real campaign or awards expectations for the film or her until she had a surprise win of the NYFCC award two weeks ago. They’ve been trying to start a campaign since then, but it’s all a little late for the Globes and some of the other awards that have been announced or will be announced shortly.
She should have been part of the conversation earlier, but Universal didn’t put her forward as a contender, so it’s not surprising she’s been overlooked. You have to really campaign if you want a nomination for a comedy like Girls Trip. Universal did a BIG campaign for Melissa McCarthy to get her that Oscar nomination. That they didn’t do it for Haddish is the actual issue here, not the Globes.
Being nitpicky here because I can’t help myself. Melissa McCarthy was NOT nominated for a Golden Globe for Bridesmaids. She received a BAFTA, SAG and Oscar nom for that role but not the Golden Globe. She was nominated for a Globe in Lead Actress-Comedy a few years later for Spy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Melissa_McCarthy
Thanks for that I should have double checked and will fix it. I appreciate that you phrased it nicely.
So they screened it and didn’t like it…it happens. If SAG had nominated her, she may have had a story, but they didn’t and they are far more populist in their taste.
I can’t speak to the quality of Girl’s Trip, because I haven’t seen it and probably won’t. But this:
“She also called out the HFPA for …classifying Get Out as comedy, which she writes “illuminates the depths of the sunken place… for real.” isn’t entirely correct. The HFPA didn’t classify GO as a comedy, the studio submitted it in that category and the HFPA agreed:
While Universal submitted “Get Out” as a comedy to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Peele clearly had no input into that decision. “I don’t think it worked like that,” he said. “I think it was just submitted.” In fact, submissions are made to individual categories, but the HFPA makes the final decision about which categories each film falls into. A rep for Peele did not respond to a request to clarify whether the movie had been submitted as a comedy without his input.
http://www.indiewire.com/2017/11/jordan-peele-response-get-out-golden-globes-comedy-1201897841/
The decision by Jordan Peele, Blumhouse and Universal to submit their film Get Out in the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category at the Golden Globes this year has created many questions from his fanbase. Here, Peele explains why the decision was made:
http://deadline.com/2017/11/jordan-peele-get-out-golden-globes-comedy-explanation-statement-1202211276/
His comments unintentionally say a lot about the industry, though, not just in terms of their perception of what a good movie is but whose movies they’re considering great. “Get Out” is a brilliant film, not simply as a clever and original thriller, but because it makes a very powerful and potent commentary about race in America. The fact that it wouldn’t be considered as one of the best films in a general category is a statement on its own.
The Globes don’t care how studios classify movies. It’s how The Martian was nominated as a comedy, too. Or how In Bruges was a comedy as well.
The Foreign Press is to represent the taste of foreign audience and the fact is that in most countries this movie wasn’t even released.
But Florence Foster Jenkins did appeal to those tastes? That movie was given a slew of nominations last year despite making very little money in the US or abroad.
Let’s be clear here. Had Pinkett done War and Peace she would have been snubbed. Were it not for her initial outcry there would have been no #oscarssowhite tidal wave last year. Hollywood isn’t going to forget anytime soon. Hollywood needs to burn and I hope people like Jada are the ones rising from the ashes.
I laughed my a## off at Girls Trip! Freakin loved it. The peeing scene was over the top but as a whole it was still great. (By comparison I just saw Bad Mom’s Christmas and was not impressed.) There was more heart to Girls Trip than I expected. Tiffany Haddish is awesome and her life hasn’t been easy. I’m looking forward to seeing much more from her!
You know, I could have done without that over the top peeing scene, but it actually had a bit of poignancy in showing what Haddish’ character was willing to do for the sake of her friends. She did it so that Jada’s character wouldn’t feel humiliated as she was now not the only one who’d peed herself.
I loved the movie and it made me a huge fan of Tiffany Haddish whom I’d never heard of until that movie.
I loved that Girls Trip ran very happily and successfully with its low-brow-ness, one in a line of comedies stretching from the 3 stooges to jerry lewis to something about mary to wedding crashers. Not everyone finds broad comedy funny, but that’s not the point. I would like Haddish to be nomed for her work, she was key.
I haven’t noticed all the movies that are up for nomination, but did “Get out” make the cut? That was a really good movie and starred an African American man (i’m good with faces not names so idk the actors name or the man who wrote the screenplay). That would be worthy of recognition. However comedies don’t usually make the cut. I didn’t watch the movie and probably won’t, not because I’m not a fan of movies that star black women or POC in general, but I’m really picky when it comes to comedies. For me the movie seemed like “The hangover” but with women instead. I don’t like watching movies that piggyback or basically have the same concept as another movie so I don’t watch it. In my defense I’m extremely picky about movies and the ones I do watch usually get 80-100 on rotten tomatoes. I guess you could say I’m a movie snob lol
I liked Girls Trip and I found Tiffany to be hilarious. It is a very crowded race for supporting actress this year, that is true. I agree that comedies and fantasy/action/scifi/horror movies need real consideration and push now.
Haven’t seen the movie, but it sounds like I wouldn’t have watched it anyway. I didn’t watch Bridesmaids either.
It’s surprising how different she looks when she smiles. She’s got a great smile. I wish that she would use it more.
Okay, I really liked the movie and laughed out loud a lot. I will say the pee scene was a bit much. I was surprised by the level of raunchiness, that I usually only associate with white films. It was startling at first, but then I leaned into it. Now as for Tiffany Haddish, her performance was great, but NOT award season great! Come on people! She was actually pretty one dimensional and boarded on obnoxious at times.
I want to see the movie still but I did think the pee scene sounded awful. Tiffany Haddish will get her moment – she’s too funny to go unrewarded. I’m just grateful the Bad Mom garbage wasn’t nominated either.
I havent seen Girls Trip so cant comment on whether it deserves it or not, but as for Get Out being listed a “comedy”, likely thats what the studio submitted it as. Probably in hopes it would give them a better chance of being nommed/winning in the first place. And its not the first time its happened at the globes, The Martian was listed as a comedy and so was My Week With Marilyn.
Saw the movie. Was ok at best. Not Great. Will not watch again. 1 time is enough. Love Tiffany Haddish but her performance in my opinion is Not Award-worthy. Get Out is a far more Superior movie that should Definitely be recognized. Jada Pinkett needs to sit somewhere. Love her but at times she opens her mouth on the wrong causes. This is not about race. The movie Girls Trip just isn’t that great. Move on.
I think Jada makes some excellent points, but for the wrong movie. Girls Trip was not award worthy. I don’t even know how it got rated so high. Haddish was good, but the character itself was nothing I hadn’t seen before in movies. Comedies in general get overlooked by the GGs. They prefer musicals and dramedies in that category. It’s frustrating!