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Brendan Fraser won’t attend the 2023 Golden Globes due to harrowing alleged incident when he was younger
Featured Image Credit: LANDMARK MEDIA / Alamy. UPI / Alamy.

Brendan Fraser won’t attend the 2023 Golden Globes due to harrowing alleged incident when he was younger

Despite the buzz around his role in The Whale, Fraser will sit this one out after he claims he was groped at the awards ceremony in 2003.

The Brenaissance is well and truly underway, but that doesn't mean you'll see Brendan Fraser at the Golden Globes.

Fraser, 53, has revealed he won't attend the ceremony even if he is nominated, despite being tipped for awards season victory after his comeback film The Whale.

Fraser is widely expected to be up for several awards, but the actor told GQ that he will skip the Golden Globes after he was allegedly groped and assaulted by former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) Philip Berk in 2003.

Berk has denied the accusations.

Fraser took his complaint to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organisation behind the Golden Globes, at the time but it was dismissed as a joke.

Fraser claimed to GQ in 2018 that his career 'withered on a vine' after he spoke up about the alleged incident.

Fraser in The Whale.
A24

So, as a result, the star revealed that he would not attend the Golden Globes again.

"I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. No, I will not participate," he said.

Explaining further, Fraser said that it was due to that history he has with the Association that he will not be in attendance.

"My mother didn't raise a hypocrite. You can call me a lot of things, but not that," he added.

Fraser said when he took his claims to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that they behaved exactly as he thought they would.

"I knew they would close ranks. I knew they would kick the can down the road," he said.

"I knew they would get ahead of the story. I knew that I certainly had no future with that system as it was."

Darren Aronofsky, Brendan Fraser and Samuel D. Hunter at The Whale premiere.
LANDMARK MEDIA / Alamy

The organisation launched an internal investigation and, according to Fraser, tried to explain Berk's alleged actions were intended as 'a joke'.

The HFPA released a statement which read: "The HFPA stands firmly against sexual harassment and the type of behaviour described in this article.

"Over the years we've continued a positive working relationship with Brendan, which includes announcing Golden Globe nominees, attending the ceremony and participating in press conferences.

"This report includes alleged information that the HFPA was previously unaware of and at this time we are investigating further details surrounding the incident."

Berk was eventually removed from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association last year after he sent an email to his fellow members that included an article that called the Black Lives Matter movement a 'racist hate group'.

Fraser's upcoming film The Whale has been met with critical acclaim and two standing ovations at the Venice and Toronto film festivals.

It seems the film is gearing up for a bumper awards season, with the film seen as Frasers big return to the silver screen.

Directed by Darren Aronofsky, The Whale tells the tale of a reclusive overweight English teacher Charlie, played by Fraser, who attempts to reconnect with his seventeen-year-old daughter (Sadie Sink).

The Golden Globes will take place on 10 January 2023. The Whale will be released on 3 February 2023.

LADbible Group has reached out to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for comment.

Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Entertainment