The Powerful Reason Fans Are Boycotting The 2023 Golden Globes In Support Of Brendan Fraser

The following contains references to sexual assault.

Brendan Fraser isn't attending the 2023 Golden Globes, despite being nominated for Best Actor for "The Whale." There's a very clear reason for this, one which Fraser has spoken about before. He broke the news to GQ in 2018 when he said that he was assaulted by Philip Berk, the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. It happened in 2003, Fraser explained; he was leaving the Beverly Hills Hotel when Berk touched Fraser. Berk claimed it was a playful butt pinch, but Fraser said there was much more involved. "I felt ill," Fraser told GQ. "I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry."

Fraser didn't report it at the time, though he did tell his wife when he got home, and the secret took a toll on him. "I became depressed," Fraser said. "I was blaming myself and I was miserable—because I was saying, 'This is nothing; this guy reached around and he copped a feel.'" For context, the HFPA hosts the Golden Globes and so Berk's affiliation with the association was enough to mean that Fraser would not attend the Globes. Once Fraser did speak out, some wondered if the Hollywood Foreign Press blacklisted him. His career did hit a slump for a period, after all. However, with the hit "The Whale," Fraser's back in the spotlight and his fans are with him.

You won't see Brendan Fraser anywhere near the 2023 Golden Globes, even though Philip Berk is no longer the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The 2003 event was too harrowing for Fraser to attend. He told GQ in 2018: "Am I still frightened? Absolutely. Do I feel like I need to say something? Absolutely. Have I wanted to many, many times? Absolutely. Have I stopped myself? Absolutely."

As such, Fraser's many fans are also boycotting the Globes. "[E]xcited to not watch the golden globes tonight and support brendan fraser instead," one fan tweeted. "Golden Globes tonight and I stand with Brendan Fraser. Can't wait for The Whale to come to the UK," another wrote. "It's so incredibly easy NOT to give the Golden Globes your views, if only to support Brendan Fraser," another said. "By the way, if you care about Brendan Fraser and the unnamed hundreds of others who were assaulted then you should boycott the golden globes. Can't claim to support him and then support the very organization that robbed his career from him in the first place," someone else tweeted. It's clear that people are taking Fraser's side.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).