All The Queer Highlights From This Year’s Golden Globes

The Golden Globes have come to a close for another year, and it was a night with plenty of representation for queer film and television. The audacious crime musical about a trans cartel leader Emilia Pérez was the night’s top winner overall with four awards, while hit Netflix series Baby Reindeer took home two statues. 

Elsewhere, other queer favourites from 2024 secured trophies throughout the night; Wicked, Challengers and the legendary Jodie Foster were all honoured in today’s ceremony.

Emilia Pérez dominates the Golden Globes

With 10 nominations at the beginning of the night, Emilia Pérez was the biggest winner on the movie side of the Globes with four overall wins; these were Best Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldaña), Best Non-English Language Film, Best Original Song and Best Musical/Comedy. 

It follows the film’s Best Actress award at Cannes in May 2024, where the honour was shared between Saldaña, trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz. In his first acceptance speech of the night, director Jacques Audiard said: “I don’t have sisters so maybe this is why I made a film about sisterhood. If there were more sisters in the world, it might be a better place.”

In accepting the award for Best Musical/Comedy, Gascón said: “The light always wins over darkness. You can put us in jail, you can beat us up, but you never can take away our soul, our resistance, our identity. And I want to say to you; raise your voice… and say I am who I am, not who you want.”

“The light always wins over darkness.”#EmiliaPerez star Karla Sofiá Gascón encourages self-expression and empowerment as she accepts the award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the #GoldenGlobes. pic.twitter.com/mTAuYb6WPj

— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) January 6, 2025

However, the contentious film’s myriad victories have caused a stir online, with users on Twitter/X users citing the fact that director Audiard didn’t do much research on Mexican culture much before making the film, and that it was a Spanish-language feature about the trans experience directed by a cis French man.

Drag Race star Katya was equally unimpressed, saying in two back-to-back tweets: “I cannot believe that movie won best non-English language picture,” followed by “I want to throw a big cold bowl of soup in that French man’s face.” Later, Katya also praised Demi Moore’s incredible Best Actress win for Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance.

Nonetheless, the awards secured by Emilia Pérez tonight put it in a comfortable position for the Oscars, despite how contentious it is. 

Baby Reindeer continues amazing run

Richard Gadd’s surprise hit series Baby Reindeer also had a great night at the Golden Globes after it secured Best Limited Series and a win for Jessica Gunning, who won Best Supporting Actress on TV. 

The award is particularly impressive for Gunning, having won the Globe over Hollywood heavy-hitters like Dakota Fanning for Ripley and Allison Janney for The Diplomat, as well as Emmy-winner Liza Colón-Zayas for The Bear. 

In her speech, the ultra-charming Gunning said: “I kept saying I cannot believe this is happening to me. I realised this morning that has been a kind of soundtrack for my life for this last year since Baby Reindeer came out.”

In accepting the award for Best Limited Series, creator Richard Gadd expressed his gratitude for the series’ success and pondered why it resonated with audiences: “Right now, when the world is in the state that it is in. We need stories that speak to the complicated and difficult nature of our times.

“When you are tallying up the numbers and putting together the budgets for this year, remember to keep some back for the little person to tell their story. Any story, when done right, is universal,” he concluded. 

Wicked widely mentioned, but scarcely awarded

Despite five nominations and a heavy cultural presence in the ceremony, Wicked only walked away with the award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, a relatively recently introduced award that recognises popular and beloved films. 

Practically the entire cast and crew of Wicked took to the stage to accept the award, where director Jon M. Chu delivered a lengthy speech about the meaning of the film in our current cultural climate. However, there was once again some confusion about what the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award is actually for, considering Wicked was not the highest-grossing film nominated. 

Despite being blocked out of all its other categories, there’s no doubt that Wicked was still a huge presence at the Golden Globes. Host and comedian Nikki Glaser opened the space by saying everyone was “holding space for film and television”, before asking Ariana Grande to hold her finger. With a great sense of humour, this prompted her and Cynthia Erivo to recreate the iconic meme for the cameras. 

Nikki Glaser to Ariana Grande: “Ariana, hold my finger?” #GoldenGlobes https://t.co/24rsV7o7AU pic.twitter.com/6Hp3Pmu7QY

— Variety (@Variety) January 6, 2025

Other queer representation at the Golden Globes

Elsewhere in the ceremony, Jodie Foster brought home the gold for her role in True Detective: Night Country, following her Emmy win in September for the same part. She once again thanked the Inupiaq and Inuit people of Northern Alaska for sharing their stories with the crew.

In a bit of a surprise win, Challengers was able to secure its only win of the night with the award for Best Original Score, courtesy of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The banging, club-like soundtrack more than deserved its win, though this writer would argue that Luca Guadignino’s incredibly sexy, sweaty tennis movie deserved more than just one award. 

As with every award ceremony, the way everyone was dressed and styled also received plenty of… attention online. It seemed like everyone was talking about Andrew Garfield, who was sporting a delightful green suit and some rounded glasses that drove everyone insane.

Don’t ask me any color of anything I am NOT WELL pic.twitter.com/ZEU2rPTosa

— andrew garfield (@bestofgarfieId) January 6, 2025

“BREAKING NEWS: Andrew Garfield in his reading glasses just received a 55-minute standing ovation from me in my bedroom,” said one Twitter/X user who accurately conveyed everyone’s sentiments about the outfit choice.