Good morning! A lawsuit alleges a hostile work environment at Fox Sports, Hillary Clinton and Anna Wintour get the Medal of Freedom, and the Golden Globes are back on track thanks to Nikki Glaser. Have a peaceful Monday!
– Awards season. The Golden Globes hit a low point last year when host Jo Koy delivered a poorly received monologue, including a joke about Barbie’s “big boobies.” Whoever took the stage as host this year was tasked with turning things around for the recently reformed awards show.
Nikki Glaser did just that with a monologue that took aim at more deserving targets than women’s long-overdue pop culture power. Glaser, a fearless comedian known for her raunchy sets and her blistering roast of Tom Brady, instead took shots at Hollywood power systems—and Diddy. The rapper, who has been charged with sex trafficking, was the subject of Glaser’s riskiest joke—“the afterparty’s not gonna be as good this year, but we have to move on,” she added to a quip about Challengers being as “sexually charged as Diddy’s credit card.” Then she noted Hollywood’s history of sexual predators, predicting that viewers of YouTube clips in the future would see this year’s crowd and say, “‘Oh my God, that was before they caught that guy.’” Plus, she delivered some classic material about Hollywood’s pressure on women: “If you’re a woman over 50 in a lead role, they call it a comeback. If you’re a guy over 50 in a lead role, congratulations, you’re about to play Sydney Sweeney’s boyfriend.”
Her monologue got the Globes back on track and set the stage for a meaningful night for the women nominated—the opposite of last year, when it seemed as if the host was detracting from the year’s biggest achievements. Demi Moore won best performance by a female actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy for her role in The Substance. It was Moore’s first major acting award over a 45-year career—one in which she said she was told she would never be more than a “popcorn actress,” a box office draw but limited in her artistic potential. Her win was made even more resonant by the fact that it was for The Substance, a body horror film that reckons with society’s pressure on women to stay youthful forever.
Zoe Saldaña won best performance by a female actor in a supporting role for Emilia Perez—another first-time win that helped the movie become the most-awarded of the night. Her costar Karla Sofía Gascón, who is trans and plays a trans woman in the film, delivered a speech celebrating her identity and her community during the film’s best picture, musical or comedy win. “You can never take away our soul, or our resistance, or our identity,” she said.
After her surprise win for best actress in a drama with her role in I’m Still Here, star Fernanda Torres acknowledged that it’s “such an amazing year for female performances.” It was—and this year, we got to celebrate them the way they deserved.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Honored in DC. President Joe Biden awarded 19 people with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Saturday. Hillary Clinton received the honor, as did Vogue’s Anna Wintour. CNN
- Allegations at Fox. A lawsuit brought by a Fox News hairstylist alleges a hostile work environment at the network, including allegations of sexual harassment and failure to prevent harassment. Included in the suit is the allegation that former Undisputed host Skip Bayless offered plaintiff Noushin Faraji $1.5 million in exchange for sex. Bayless hasn’t commented and Fox Sports said it has no further comment at this time. Washington Post
- Stylish duo. Kristin Juszczyk joined forces with Emma Grede, the exec behind Kardashian brands Skims and Good American, to launch the new brand Off Season inspired by her viral designs. Juszczyk turned football jerseys into puffer jackets and other apparel for Taylor Swift, Simone Biles, and other fans. Vogue
- Funds for faith? Conservative Christian “faith-friendly funds” allow investors to put their money into businesses that align with their opposition to abortion and trans rights. A coalition of these funds are starting to pressure businesses to abandon progressive policies like funding travel for abortion. Bloomberg
ON MY RADAR
A Melania Trump documentary from director Brett Ratner will be released by Amazon AP
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn isn’t a feel-good New York story The New Yorker
Trump hails Italy’s PM as a “fantastic woman” as she visits him in Florida CNN
PARTING WORDS
“[My mother] was here 25 years ago. And this is proof that art can endure through life.”
— I'm Still Here star Fernanda Torres, accepting her Golden Globe
