Golden Globes: Sacha Baron Cohen wins big, and other fun Jewish moments

By Gabe Friedman

(JTA) – Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat character is going out on a high note.

Cohen won best actor in a comedy or musical, and his “Borat” sequel upset the Disney+ adaptation of “Hamilton” by winning best film in the category at the Golden Globes on Sunday night.

Like its predecessor, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” poked fun at the blatant antisemitism found in parts of Eastern Europe. 

Recently, however, Cohen said that his disguise days – the Borat character included – are over. In his acceptance speech for the best comedy actor award, Cohen thanked his bodyguard, who he said protected him from getting shot twice during the filming of the Borat sequel.

Cohen also couldn’t help but poke fun at Donald Trump, whose presidency motivated Cohen to take formerly uncharacteristic public stands against hate speech and social media disinformation. “Hold on, Donald Trump is contesting the result,” he said after winning the actor award. “He’s claiming that a lot of dead people voted, which is a very rude thing to say about the HFPA,” the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Despite the historic nature of the Globes ceremony – hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were featured in a split screen from opposite coasts, and small in-person audiences were made up only of essential workers who were all tested for COVID-19 – the show had its usual share of fun Jewish moments. 

Dan Levy pushes inclusion

The final season of “Schitt’s Creek,” the riches-to-rags comedy featuring the Jewish father-son team of Eugene and Dan Levy, finished its historic award show run with a couple of accolades: Golden Globes for best TV comedy series and best actress in the same category for Catherine O’Hara.

Inclusion was the theme of the evening. Multiple Globe winners used their acceptance speeches to push the film and TV industry to work harder at bringing diverse voices to the table. Dan Levy put the theme at the heart of his speech. “This acknowledgement is a lovely vote of confidence in the messages ‘Schitt’s Creek’ has come to stand for: the idea that inclusion can bring about growth and love to a community,” he said. “In the spirit of inclusion, I hope this time next year this ceremony reflects the true breadth and diversity of film and television being made today because there is so much more to be celebrated.”

Aaron Sorkin quotes Abbie Hoffman

Sorkin, the heralded Jewish screenwriter, won his third Globe for best screenplay for a drama film, for “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which chronicled the backstory of the riotous protest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Cohen was nominated as well for best actor in the drama category for his performance as Abbie Hoffman, a very Jewish icon of the anti-war movement of the 1960s and ’70s. (He was beaten out by the late Chadwick Boseman for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”)

In his acceptance speech, Sorkin said that Cohen emailed him a quote from Hoffman during each day of filming. (Cohen wrote his college thesis at Cambridge University on the American civil rights movement, so he’s pretty familiar with the era.)

“I don’t always agree with everything that characters I write view or say,” Sorkin said, “but here’s something Abbie said: ‘Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat. But it’s something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles.’” He added: “I don’t need anymore evidence beyond what happened on Jan. 6 to agree with this.”

Norman Lear gets a “progressive” tribute

Connecticut resident Norman Lear, the Jewish creator of several memorable TV shows, is still winning at 98. The Globes gave him the honorary Carol Burnett Award, which since 2019 has recognized “outstanding contributions to television on or off the screen. In narrating a video tribute to Lear, comedian Wanda Sykes called him the “most progressive” television producer in history for bringing uncomfortable issues around race and class into mainstream American TV screens through series such as “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons.”

Ben Stiller shows off his baking skills

Stiller presented the best actress in the musical or comedy category, but got everyone’s attention by bringing food to the stage. After lamenting a full year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jewish actor said: “Like many of us, I’ve used that time to really look inward and grow. I’ve come to fully understand the nature of cryptocurrency. I read a book. I finally got around to dying my hair gray. And like so many other resilient Americans, I learned to bake.” Then he revealed a banana bread in the shape of a Golden Globe trophy.

Other Jewish winners and losers

– Songwriter Diane Warren won her second Globe for best original song. Her tune “Io si” featured in “The Life Ahead,” in which the iconic actress Sophia Loren plays a Holocaust survivor.

– Shira Haas was nominated but didn’t win the best actress in a limited TV series category. She drew acclaim for her performance in “Unorthodox,” about a young Hasidic woman who leaves the community.

– Jane Levy was nominated in the best actress in a comedy or musical category for her role in “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” but lost to O’Hara.

– Al Pacino is not Jewish, but he played a Jewish Nazi hunter with a Yiddish accent in Amazon’s “Hunters.” He lost in the best TV drama series actor category.

Friendship between Israeli and Iranian judo champs being made into TV series

By Gabe Friedman

(JTA) – The stories of Israeli champion judoka Sagi Muki and his friend Saeid Mollaei, who fled his native Iran after refusing an order not to fight Muki in international competition, are being turned into a TV series.

The project is being jointly produced by MGM/UA Television and Israel’s Tadmor Entertainment, with help from the International Judo Federation, Deadline reported Monday, March 1. Neither a release date nor the network that will air it was mentioned.

In 2019, Mollaei said his handlers tried to force him to throw matches at that year’s judo world championship in Tokyo so he would not have to face the Israeli Muki, who went on to win the tournament. Mollaei feared for his life after defying his trainers and fled to Germany, where he achieved refugee status. He now competes for Mongolia, and both he and Muki are on track to qualify for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

The pair struck a friendly pose at an event last month in Tel Aviv.

“Sagi Muki and Saeid Mollaei are both inspiring and groundbreaking athletes whose rivalry and impossible friendship has transcended the world of judo to captivate sports fans and hearts across the globe,” MGM/UA Television President Steve Stark told Deadline. A documentary about the duo is also in production.

The news came on the same day that the Court of Arbitration for Sport decided to overturn the International Judo Federation’s ban on Iranian judokas that it laid down after the 2019 scandal. Iranian athletes will again be allowed to compete in international contests, including the upcoming Olympics, barring a successful last-minute appeal.

MGM/UA Television also announced Monday an American series on the life of Golda Meir, the only female prime minister in Israeli history, starring Shira Haas.