The 2017 Golden Globes ceremony hosted by Jimmy Fallon didn’t take long to create its own “Golden Globes moment,” as the host called it on live television.
Just after the award show’s prerecorded intro, a star-filled tribute to the Hollywood-romanticizing La La Land, Fallon emerged onstage to welcome the room full of stars, only to realize he ran into his first technical issue of the night.
“Welcome to Golden Globes—already the teleprompter is down, so this is a great way to start the show,” Fallon greeted the crowd. “…I can think of something. Cut to Justin Timberlake, please?”
Thankfully Fallon had a second monitor come through within the first minute of the snafu and continued with his joke-riddled monologue, poking fun at Ryan Gosling‘s “pianist” role, and Matt Damon‘s greatest acting challenge of “telling Ben Affleck that he liked Batman vs Superman.”
Fallon’s monologue didn’t come without his fair share of jabs aimed at President-elect Donald Trump, whom Fallon has been accused of being too passive toward on his own television show.
Of these hits were equating Trump to Game of Thrones‘s King Joffrey; saying that Florence Foster Jenkins, the worst opera singer ever, wouldn’t even accept the invite to perform at Trump’s inauguration, and insinuating that the Golden Globes results were rigged after being partially tabulated by Vladimir Putin.
That didn’t stop Twitter critics from ragging on Fallon’s treatment of Trump months prior, when he tousled the Republican presidential candidate’s hair on his television show.
Best Actor should go to Jimmy Fallon for acting like he had no responsibility in normalizing Donald Trump. #GoldenGlobes
— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) January 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/_Kirk__/status/818270882649010176
jimmy fallon: has trump on his show for ratings, normalizes his behavior
— hayley (@haylington) January 9, 2017
also jimmy fallon: 'lol trump sux rite guys' #GoldenGlobes
I'm so glad Jimmy Fallon suddenly realized speaking out against Trump is important. 🙃#GoldenGlobes
— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) January 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/JusticeMack/status/818264886656593920
The La La Land-parodying intro featured stars including Nicole Kidman, Rami Malek, Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey, Justin Timberlake, and the kids from Stranger Things—even poor, poor Barb.
In the intro, Fallon and others covered song parodies from the movie, such as “Another Day of Sun” and “City of Stars.” Watch the entire 2017 Golden Globes award show cold open below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaldSt0lc8o
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the YouTube video of the 2017 Golden Globes.