Ahead of Sunday’s Golden Globes, Melissa Rivers of “Fashion Police” said host Seth Meyers must “address the elephant in the room” — sexual harassment in Hollywood.
Asked Saturday by CNN’s Michael Smerconish how Meyers should approach his opening monologue in a post-Weinstein era, Rivers, the daughter of late comedienne Joan Rivers, said she thought it would be “challenging.”
“You have to go there, … but what is half the audience going to laugh at, and what is half the audience going to find offensive?” she said.
“We’re living in a time where if you say anything, you’re condemned,” she added. “If you don’t say anything, you’re condemned. We can’t seem to have a civil conversation about any of this, and I think this is going to make everything from the red carpet to the show to the post shows to the wrap-up shows very complicated.”
As dozens of Hollywood stars have said they’ll wear black on the red carpet in protest of sexual harassment, Rivers said, “Everybody is allowed to express their support for this movement.”
But, she emphasized, it’s still important to honor the ceremony’s central purpose: celebrating the best in entertainment.
“This has been a year of change, and women are speaking with this collective voice, which is amazing, to the point where the collective voice of women became Time’s ‘Person of the Year.’ Yet, it’s also a night of celebrating people whose work is being honored,” she said.
“The viewers want to see the clothes, and they want to see the excitement,” she added. “And in this time of such unhappiness and darkness, everyone needs to just enjoy and be light for, at least, the red carpet.”
As for what her mother would have made of the #MeToo movement?
“I think she would have written hashtag ‘I’m supported but I’m kind of annoyed that that’s never happened to me too because my career would be a lot further.’ It would be the world’s longest hashtag,” she laughed.
“My mom never thought of herself as being a feminist,” Rivers said. “She never had that kind of self-awareness that she was a social commentator. Yet, for her, this would have been Christmas everyday with material.”