The Golden Globe Awards polarized audiences with its subtle tribute to Rob Reiner, just four weeks after the comedy icon was murdered with his wife Michele.
As the specter of the case haunts Hollywood – with the Reiners’ son Nick due to stand trial for the homicides – fans were on tenterhooks to see how the awards shows would memorialize the director of such classics as When Harry Met Sally….
They had to wait until the very end of the ceremony, when hostess Nikki Glaser closed the show with a nod to Reiner’s directorial debut This Is Spinal Tap.
She wore a black and white Spinal Tap baseball cap with a matching frock – a raven dress with silver trim at the neckline – as she echoed the movie’s most famous phrase, saying the evening’s festivities ‘went to 11.’
While many viewers were touched by the understated homage, others were incensed at what they regarded as a throwaway gesture.
One fumed on X: ‘”this one went to 11″ the most tepid Rob Reiner tribute imaginable. literally a room full of people who knew him and that’s what they did.’
The Golden Globe Awards polarized audiences with its subtle tribute to Rob Reiner, just four weeks after the comedy icon was murdered with his wife Michele
Reiner, 78, and Michele, 70, were found stabbed to death December 14 at their $13.5 million Brentwood estate, where their son Nick, 32, lived in the guesthouse; pictured 2013Â
‘The so called Rob Reiner tribute just being Nikki Glaser wearing a Spinal Tap hat,’ wrote another social media user, posting a screen-grab of a YouTube comment that read: ‘I love her lack of energy, go girl give us nothing!’
Other fans placed the blame for the blink-and-miss-it moment on the Golden Globes brass, while praising Glaser for having mentioned Reiner at all.
‘Nikki Glazer honouring Rob Reiner when the @goldenglobes couldn’t be bothered,’ wrote one. ‘At least the host understood the moment.’
Meanwhile other viewers took a more complimentary view of the Reiner tribute, posting reactions like: ‘Bravo, Nikki Glaser. Bravo.’
Glaser was hailed in some quarters for what fans variously called a ‘tiny heartfelt dedication,’ a ‘very sweet tribute’ and a ‘great loving nod.’
A couple of days before the awards show, Glaser shared that she had thought up a method of paying her respects to Reiner at the Golden Globes.
She praised an earlier Reiner tribute at the Critics’ Choice Awards by hostess Chelsea Handler – who, Glaser noted, had been ‘a close friend of his,’ via USA Today.
‘I knew him but not really well, and it’s delicate because we don’t have an in memoriam, so there’s not a whole section set aside to honor everyone that we’ve lost – but I have something planned that I’m going to do in my own way to just acknowledge him and celebrate him in my own way,’ she said.
Glaser wore a black and white Spinal Tap baseball cap as well as a matching frock, as she echoed the movie’s most famous phrase, saying the evening’s festivities ‘went to 11’
(from left) Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Reiner are pictured in the latter’s directorial debut, the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap
One fumed on X: ‘”this one went to 11″ the most tepid Rob Reiner tribute imaginable. literally a room full of people who knew him and that’s what they did’
Her modus operandi was not to ‘linger on it too much, because I think that’s what we’ve been doing for the past few weeks,’ she observed.Â
‘I just thought: “If something happened to me and Rob Reiner was hosting a show, given our relationship, how would I want him to handle it?” And I think I landed on something that I feel he would do for me too.’
She was compering the Golden Globes for the second year running, and started the show with a rollicking opening monologue that left some stars bristling with umbrage.
She took aim at such targets as the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein Files, Leonardo DiCaprio’s affinity for drastically younger girlfriends and even CBS – the network that carries the awards show.
‘I cannot believe the amount of star power we have in this room tonight. It is insane. So many A-listers – and by A-listers, I mean people who are on “a list” that has been heavily redacted,’ she said in obvious reference to the Epstein Files.
Glaser then cracked that the Golden Globe for ‘best editing’ should be given to the Justice Department, which has released less than one percent of the files despite Trump having agreed to make them public two months ago.
She was compering the Golden Globes for the second year running, and started the show with a rollicking opening monologue that left some stars bristling with umbrageÂ
She also threw a couple of barbs at CBS, which has been undergoing a major ‘anti-woke’ overhaul since its editorial takeover by Bari Weiss.Â
‘And the award for most editing goes to CBS News. Yes, CBS News, America’s newest place to see BS news. We needed another,’ she said.
When she turned her attention to DiCaprio, she vamped: ”What a career you have had. Countless iconic performances. You’ve worked with every great director, you’ve won three Golden Globes, and an Oscar.’
She then landed the punchline: ‘The most impressive thing is that you were able to accomplish that all before your girlfriend turned 30. It is just insane.’
Glaser added: ‘Leo, I’m sorry I made that joke. It is cheap. I tried not to, but, like, we don’t know anything else about you. There’s nothing else. Open up! I’m serious!’
She quipped that the his most ‘in-depth interview’ ever was with Teen Beat in 1991 and asked: ‘Is your favorite food still “Pasta, pasta, and more pasta?”‘
