The 25 Most Awkward Moments From The 2026 Golden Globes That Had Fans Cringing

Amanda Seyfried has played everything from a high school mean-girl to an aspiring writer onscreen. But masking her disappointment was something she couldn’t do at the 2026 Golden Globes.

The Dear John actress looked visibly downcast when she lost the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture to Rose Byrne, who earned the award for her role in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You.

The cameras caught Amanda visibly grimacing before forcing a smile and getting up from her seat to applaud Rose.

The internet felt the secondhand embarassement after Kylie Jenner was seemingly snubbed in an interaction with Odessa A'Zion.

A viral clip showed the actress hug her Marty Supreme co-star Timothée Chalamet but completely ignored Kylie as she tried to lean in for a hug.

“Odessa hates her,” one commented online, while another wrote, “Omg I cringed so hard but I watching the show rn and they keep dancing with each other and sh**.”

“Omg I cringed so bad! For someone like Kylie who already has social anxiety, I know that BURNED! I feel for her here,” one said.

Another wrote, “That’s embarrassing as fck I genuinely felt embarrassed and I really wonder why do they ignore her?”

Leonardo DiCaprio’s dating life was once again dragged into the spotlight when Nikki Glaser delivered her monologue.

The comedian, who hosted the award show for the second time in a row, showered the Hollywood star with praises before brutally roasting him.

During her monoglogue, she spoke about Leo’s nominated performance in One Battle After Another, calling it “insane” and “so vaping good.”

“What a career you've had. I mean, countless iconic performances, you've worked with every great director. You've won three Golden Globes, an Oscar,” she said.

“And the most impressive thing,” she continued, “is that you were able to accomplish all of that before your girlfriend turned 30. I mean, it's just insane.”

Leo laughed along as Nikki moved on to her next target.

Snoop Dogg entered the bleep zone when he mentioned how not sober he was.

The rapper walked onto the stage to his 2004 hit Drop It Like It's Hot to present the first-ever Best Podcast award this year.

“Stop the music,” the 54-year-old said before asking his audience to “loosen up a little bit.”

After the Best Podcast nominees were announced, Snoop Dogg said a line that he couldn't help laugh at himself.

“Shout-out to the Golden Globes for putting the podcast category in this awards show. And shout-out to all of the podcasters. You all are winners, but the real winner is…” he said before giggling on stage.

“I'm high as a motherf***er right now. Y'all had me here too d*mn long!” he said before announcing Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast as the winner of the inaugural category.

Several stars were seen walking out of the 2026 Golden Globes as the show dragged on.

Power couple Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard were seen walking out of the Beverly Hilton before the hours-long show concluded.

Comedian Keegan-Michael Key and newlyweds Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco also left ahead of the curtains falling on the star-studded night.

Wanda Sykes used her stage time to brutally roast Ricky Gervais, who wasn’t present to receive his award for the Best Stand-Up Comedy Performance on TV.

As Wanda read out the nominees in the category, she made a stinging jab at Ricky, who is known for being an atheist and has made jokes about the transgender community in the past.

“I love you for not being here,” she said after reading out the British comedian’s name. “If you win, I get to accept the award on your behalf, and you're going to thank God and the trans community.”

Fortunately or unfortunately for Ricky, he did win the category, which prompted Wanda to say: “[Ricky] would like to thank God and the trans community.”

Netizens praised comedian and outspoken LGBTQ activist for her creative dig at Ricky.

“Wanda Sykes totally nailed that acceptance speech for Ricky Gervais. So funny and clever,” one said.

“Wanda Sykes gives no f’s and funny thing is neither does Ricky Gervais,” said another. “One of the blessings of aging.”

Another wrote, “Wanda Sykes dragging Ricky Gervais one of my highlights of the night.”

Ricky’s Netlix special SuperNature was met with immense backlash in 2022 for his unhinged take on transgenders, pedophilia, African and Chinese people, and victims of the H**ocaust.

“I talk about AIDS, famine, cancer, the H**ocaust, r*pe, p**ophilia, but no, the one thing you mustn't joke about is identity politics,” he said in the special. “The one thing you should never joke about is the trans issue. 'They just wanna be treated equally.' I agree. That's why I include them.” 

After his jokes were labelled “anti-trans” and “dangerous,” he said: “In real life, of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights and trans rights are human rights.”

Ariana Grande and Steven Spielberg posed together at the Golden Globes, but fans felt like the vibe was unusual. 

The internet chuckled as Ariana gave a playful duck-face expression while the director stood with a classic, composed smile/

“If awkward was a picture,” one quipped.

“Why are these two even together lol feels so random honestly,” read another comment.

The award for the best eyeroll at the 2026 Golden Globes went to Michael B. Jordan’s mom, who immediately took a sip of her drink when comedian Nikki Glaser made a joke about him.

The award show host took a moment to praise Michael B. Jordan for playing twin characters in the Golden Globe-nominated Sinners.

“I can’t believe it, we got two Michael B. Jordans. When I saw that, I was like, Nikki B. Jerkin’, because that was awesome,” she said, sparking quite the reaction from the actor’s mother, Donna Jordan, who was sitting in the audience.

“I’m so sorry. That should’ve been a DM,” Nikki added in a sorry-not-sorry way.

Nikki Glaser made a Jeffrey Epstein joke without even saying his name.

During her opening monologue, the two-time Globes host praised the star power in the room before joking about the government redacting and “editing” Jeffrey Epstein’s list of rich and famous clients.

“I cannot believe the amount of star power we have in this room tonight, it’s insane,” she said. “There’s so many A-listers … and by ‘A-listers’ I do mean people who are on a list that has been heavily redacted.’” 

“Yes, and the Golden Globe for best editing goes to … the Justice Department. Yes, congratulations,” she quipped.

Many found the joke unexpected, with one saying: “4 minutes in and there's already an Epstein joke. Ok, I'm going to bed.”

“Not Nikki making an Epstein list joke,” one said, while another wrote, “The Epstein client list joke Nikki Glaser just made will go down in history. Underrated comedian.”

The internet was disappointed when the segment for the Best Original Score was cut out of the live telecast.

Ludwig Göransson won the Golden Globe in the category, but viewers missed his acceptance speech after Paramount+ and CBS skipped it due to time constraints.

“Why did they cut this from the air?” one asked online.

“Bad move to push this to commercial break and air best podcast instead of Best Score,” wrote another.

Even Leonardo DiCaprio has to play by the rules when it comes to the Golden Globes.

A Vanity Fair reporter claimed that the Hollywood heavyweight was stopped by security and briefly barred from returning to his seat due to a strict rule.

During the show, celebrities are expected to remain seated and cannot walk through the crowd until a commercial break.

“I saw security stop Leonardo DiCaprio from heading to his seat during Snoop Dogg’s bit,” wrote the reporter.

“Chase Sui Wonders and Selena Gomez also had to wait in the same star-studded group.”

The atmosphere was quite awkward when the cast of The Secret Agent was played off during the show.

The movie created quite the buzz and emerged as the winner in the Best non-English language film category, while Wagner Moura made history as the first Brazilian to ever to win the category.

Rose Byrne had a strange explanation for why her husband Bobby Cannavale that was not her date for the night.

“My brother’s my date, thanks George,” she said while accepting the award for Best Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You!

The award winner said her husband skipped the glitzy show altogether because he had other priorities.

“I wanna thank my husband, Bobby Cannavale, who couldn’t be here because we’re getting a bearded dragon and he went to a reptile expo in New Jersey,” she said onstage.

The actress admitted she “didn’t prepare anything” for her speech but ensured to mention filmmaker Mary Bronstein for casting her in the indie film.

“We shot this movie in 25 days for like $8.50 — this is like a tiny film, so this is a huge thing for me,” said the emotional actress.

Ahead of the award show, Rose spoke about welcoming a new member to their family during an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.

“This expo is like where everyone goes, and it’s the place to go,” she told the talk show host. “And it was on the same day [as the Globes], and it would just be such a parent fail.”

While the show went on smoothly on-screen, viewers were oblivious to a fire that broke out backstage.

Reporter Chris Gardner shared a video of an unexpected fire that led to chaos in a press room. 

“Crisis averted inside #GoldenGlobes backstage press room as catering knocked over a coffee holder and the sterno underneath was lit,” the Hollywood Reporter journalsit wrote on X.

He said the carpet in the room was on fire for a brief moment and smoke “wafted up around the curtains.”

“They put it out quickly fortunately. Yikes!” he added.

The vibes were great until photographers misnamed Grammy-winning singer Laufey.

The Icelandic-Chinese singer may have had a mini identity crisis when photographers on the Golden Globes red carpet began calling her Megan.

“My name isn’t Megan, so … I don’t know,” she awkwardly said before a photographer simply said, “Oh!”

Laufey laughed and walked away in her orange Balenciaga dress.

Netizens slammed the photographers and even called them “racist.”

“Their only job was to know who was attending and take pictures likeeeee it’s not that hard, this is disrespectful,” one said.

Fans wondered whether the photographers mistook her for Megan Meiyok Skiendiel from the group Katseye.

“As in Megan of KATSEYE or…????” one asked while another wrote, “I mean I see it they really do look alike, but Megan probably wouldn’t be here without her group so the mistake doesn’t make sense.”

Others praised Laufey’s demeanor and called her “adorable.”

“Classic Laufey energy,” one said.

Viewers tsk-tsked at the sight of Polymarket ads during Sunday’s award show.

Logos and messaging from the prediction market platform, which allows users to bet on things like elections, the weather, and awards shows, were seen across multiple points during the night.

“Polymarket odds on the telecast of the Golden Globes,” one X user wrote. “Just push me in front of a bus at this point.”

Timothée Chalamet’s Golden Globe win came with an extra side of cringe, the internet said.

The actor bagged the award for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) for his role in Marty Supreme. But his victorious moment raised eyebrows when he kissed his girlfriend Kylie Jenner.

When Jennifer Lopez announced Timothée’s name as the winner of the category, the actor turned to his girlfriend but almost missed her lips when he leaned in for a kiss.

The two even seemed to have their eyes wide open, making netizens called the kiss “weird.”

“They’re usually so cute but that was kinda weird,” one said, while a second wrote, “I’d rather they just hug than awkwardly kiss.”

“Did Ky not know he was gonna win? She seemed so caught off guard with that kiss,” asked a third.

Olandria Carthen smiled and posted in her statement-making green gown. But one man amid the swarm of photographers yelled some strange statements at the former Love Islander.

“I voted for you” and “you should’ve won” were heard coming from the press area.

Hudson Williams couldn’t resist a risqué quip while chatting with Gayle King.

The actor made a dirty joke during the interaction, making people think he was “tired and the filter is malfunctioning.”

“Did he forget this was a classy party?” one asked.

“Okay Gayle walked right into that one. She did not know who she was taking to,” another quipped.

Wanda Sykes was extra sassy and extra spicy when she presented the award for the Best Stand-Up Comedy Performance on TV.

Making sure no one was left out, she took a dig at every single nominee in the category.

After announcing Bill Maher’s name, she said, “You give us so much, but I would love a little less.

When it came to Brett Goldstein, she said, “You would've made a great Menendez brother.

She then called Kevin Hart “the richest guy in this category.”

“Yet, I know he wants it the most,” she added.

Her sharpest dig was kept for Ricky Gervais, as she said: “I love you for not being here. If you win, I get to accept the award on your behalf, and you're going to thank God and the trans community.”

An unamused Bill Maher offered a lackluster expression in response to Wanda’s jabs.