Why Jodie Foster's Golden Globes speech may disappoint the gay community

The actress' all-over-the-place speech, argues Eric Sasson at The Wall Street Journal, did a disservice to gay people who want to know they're not alone

Jodie Foster made light of her big non-reveal, but "it wasn't a laughing matter," says Eric Sasson at The Wall Street Journal.
(Image credit: Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

During Sunday's Golden Globes, the acclaimed actress and director Jodie Foster was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille award for her lifetime of cinematic achievement. But instead of taking the opportunity to reflect on her 47 years in the business, or offering advice for the next generation of actors, Foster delivered a "confrontational, defensive, disjointed" non-coming-out-coming-out speech, says Eric Sasson at The Wall Street Journal. After a lengthy build-up that suggested she was about to publicly come out as gay, the two-time Oscar winner said, "I'm just going to put it out there, right, loud and proud… I am, uh, single."

"It was a joke," Sasson says, "but it wasn't a laughing matter." As an actress who has spent her entire life in Hollywood's scrutinizing spotlight, it's understandable that Foster would "see her sexuality as the one thing she would not share with a world that was asking everything else of her." But by using the speech as an attack on the meddling media, the actress did a disservice to the public, particularly gay people who want to "know that we are not only not alone but that we could be proud of ourselves." Sasson continues:

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Lauren Hansen

Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.