Nikki Glaser couldn’t resist shading some stars in her 2025 Golden Globes opening monologue.
“I am not here to roast you tonight, and how could I? You are all so famous, so talented, so powerful,” Glaser, 40, began after taking the stage on Sunday, January 5,. “I mean you could really do anything.”
While poking fun at some honorees at Los Angeles’ Beverly Hilton Hotel, she made more savage digs at celebrities who weren’t present.
“So, tonight, we celebrate the best of film and hold space for television,” she said. “Yes, Wicked, Queer, Nightbitch: These are not just words Ben Affleck yells after he orgasms. These are some of the incredible movies nominated tonight.”
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Glaser continued, “Zendaya is here. Zendaya, you were incredible in Dune [2]. Oh, my God, I woke up for all of your scenes. You were so good. And Challengers, girl? It was so good. I mean, that movie was more sexually charged than Diddy’s credit card.”
She added, “Oh, I’m upset too. The afterparty’s not going to be good this year. But, we have to move on. A Stanley Tucci freak-off just doesn’t have the same ring to it. No baby oil this year, just lots of olive oil.”
Diddy, 55, was arrested for sex trafficking and more charges in September 2024. He pleaded not guilty and has denied all allegations. He was remanded to prison until his trial later this year despite appealing for bail four times.
During another monologue moment, Glaser called nominee Adrien Brody a “two-time Holocaust survivor” based on his roles in WWII-era films The Pianist and The Brutalist. (Brody, 51, won an Oscar for The Pianist and is garnering buzz for The Brutalist.
She also referenced any “future criminals” in the crowd, seemingly another reference to Diddy. “I really think this is going to be a very memorable night, and maybe not in the way that you think,” Glaser added. “I predict five years from now when you’re watching old clips of this on YouTube, you’ll see someone in one of the crowd shots and you’ll be like, ‘Oh, my God, that was before they caught that guy!’ We could be making history tonight and we don’t even know with who. He knows, you know, or she! It could be a woman. … It won’t be. It never is. Kind of like Best Director.”
On a positive note, Glaser marveled at double nominee Selena Gomez bringing her fiancé, music producer Benny Blanco, as her date. “Benny Blanco is here because of the genie who granted him that wish,” the comedian added. “Man, lucky guy!”
It is Glaser’s first time emceeing the Globes, taking over the reins from fellow comedian Jo Koy.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be hosting the Golden Globes. It’s one of my favorite nights of television and now I get a front-row seat (actually, I think I have to host from the stage),” Glaser said in a statement shared in August 2024. “The Golden Globes is not only a huge night for TV and film but also for comedy. It’s one of the few times that show business not only allows but encourages itself to be lovingly mocked (at least I hope so).”
She added at the time, “It’s an exciting, yet challenging gig because it’s live, unpredictable and in front of Hollywood’s biggest stars, who also might be getting wasted while seated next to their recent exes.”
Late last month, Glaser predicted that she was “gonna nail” her hosting responsibilities.
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“Maybe I won’t nail it in some people’s eyes, but I will have nailed it in my eyes because I have set up a system leading up to it that I couldn’t possibly work harder on it,” the FBoy Island host told CBS Sunday Mornings on December 29, 2024. “I thrive on anxiety. I like feeling like, ‘Oh, what’s gonna happen?’ I like that feeling. I kill it when I’m anxious.”
Glaser also hoped that none of her Globes jokes would be mean-spirited.
“I think my new challenge is, I wanna be known for being a nice celebrity,” Glaser added. “I just wanna be someone that people go, ‘Oh, she’s really great to work with. She was really nice to us,’ and not in an inauthentic way. … I wanna spread honesty.”
Last year’s ceremony went viral after Koy, 53, made an apparent dig at attendee Taylor Swift.
“The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift. I swear,” he said during the January 2024 broadcast, referring to the 35-year-old pop star often being shown on the Jumbotron during boyfriend Travis Kelce’s football games.
Swift looked visibly annoyed at the joke, prompting Koy to issue an apology.
Glaser, for her part, is a noted fan of Swift’s and even attended the singer’s Eras Tour more than 20 times. Ahead of Sunday’s ceremony, she told Variety that she didn’t plan on mentioning Swift during the broadcast.
