I was talking to a friend about the red carpet blackout prior to Sunday’s show and she said, “I don’t like it because I think it gives someone like Jennifer Aniston who always wears black anyway a pass to pretend to protest without having to actually speak up.” She’s right that Jennifer Aniston wore black, as she does, and she skipped the red carpet so she didn’t have to actually speak on the issues in a live setting BUT Aniston did donate $500,000 to Time’s Up’s legal defense fund. 

Is that enough? When so many of her peers showed up on the red carpet early and gave longer interviews than normal so that the Time’s Up message could be delivered, is it fair that Jen gets to throw in some money, sashay in wearing black and get the same credit? But then, is it fair to call out Jennifer Aniston for not doing more? These are valid critiques but I’m not sure that’s the conversation we should be having. The men who did walk the red carpet were barely asked to comment on the cause and to borrow from my friend Kayla, this is a THEM problem. Why are women doing all the work and then getting criticized for how they’re doing that work when the men get to show up, answer a question about their movie and move on? That’s the conversation we should be having.

So Jennifer Aniston skipped the carpet but showed up to present with Carol Burnett. When they walked out on stage, they were met with a standing ovation. The official Golden Globes Twitter account called them “two legends.” Like, they’re equals. Pardon? 

I think we need to make it very clear that the standing O was for Carol Burnett and Carol Burnett only. Put some respect on her name. Jennifer Aniston couldn’t even handle her scripted reaction to Carol’s joke about knowing her from Will & Grace. Jennifer Aniston got to bask in the glow of that standing O but it was not hers to savour. Just making sure we’re all on the same page. 

As for the Brangelina-sized elephant in the room, this was the safest year for them to show up to the same one, wasn’t it? The headlines about Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston trying to avoid each other or going to the same parties are still there but it’s a lot quieter than it would have been if this had been any other year. Is that why they both decided it was safe to show up to the same building for the same event? Or is time up on that whole tired narrative too?