Golden Globes host Jerrod Carmichael dropped what may turn out to be his most biting joke in a brief bit he did coming back from commercial midway through the show.
Carmichael walked onstage with three statuettes in his arms and told the audience they were the hardware that Tom Cruise returned to the HFPA in protest in May 2021, following revelations about a lack of diversity and allegations of impropriety within the organization awarding the Globes.
“I think maybe we take these three things and exchange them for the safe return of Shelly Miscavige,” he suggested, mentioning (and mispronouncing the name of) the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige. Sounds of surprise and a few whoops that went up from the audience.
Former Scientologists, Leah Remini among them, have expressed concern for the wellbeing of Miscavige, with Remini saying she she filed a missing persons report with the LAPD. Scientology, for its part, denied in 2018 that Shelly Miscavige was missing.
The trophies Cruise sent back are the Best Actor prize he won for Jerry Maguire, the Best Actor prize he won for Born on the Fourth of July and the Best Supporting Actor prize he won for Magnolia.
Even more awkward than Carmichael’s joke itself was the fact that he made it directly before introducing Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick co-stars Glen Powell and Jay Ellis. The duo was left to walk out onstage with the quip still hanging in the air.
