Jim Gaffigan failed to bring the house down with a joke about pedophilia at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards Sunday — days after the Jeffrey Epstein list dropped.
The comedian made the polarizing wisecrack while onstage at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., to present the trophy for Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television.
“I can’t even believe I’m in the entertainment industry. I can’t. You know, it’s so unlikely,” he said before joking, “I’m from a small town in Indiana — I’m not a pedophile.”
The controversial line made some of the show’s celebrity guests such as Taylor Swift and Jon Batiste howl with laughter. However, others remained awkwardly silent.
Despite the stale response, Gaffigan, 57, proceeded with his bit, jokingly asking whether “pedophile” was a new category at the ceremony.
Internet users were quick to connect the “Jim Gaffigan Show” star’s joke to the newly released documents linking several high-profile people to convicted pedophile Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex-trafficking minors.
The list included the names of many victims, friends and associates of Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell who were previously kept anonymous, but it did not incriminate them.
“I bet Jimmy Kimmel really hated that joke,” one Globes viewer tweeted, referring to the late-night host preemptively denying NFL star Aaron Rodgers’ baseless speculation that he would be on the list.
“I bet Epsteins got a few tapes knocking about with the majority of the celebrities at the awards on them,” a second Twitter user surmised.
“Who had Gaffigan making the Epstein list/pedophile joke at the #GoldenGlobes tonight? Not me,” another wrote.
Other social media users called Gaffigan’s joke inappropriate considering pedophilia in Hollywood is a real problem.
“No – he was minimizing the problem of pedophilia in Hollywood and making light of it. That’s why they were all laughing. Sick freak,” one critic tweeted.
“He mocked the idea and made light of it. It’s a way of belittling the accusations they so rightly deserve,” a second person agreed.
“C’mon. He’s openly mocking it to protect them. The more they make it a gag, the more people will eyeroll the accusations,” a third wrote.
“It was epic to watch live. The entire room fell silent. It was SO Awkward,” another viewer observed.
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“Some delayed and stunted applause there,” one more agreed. “I am sure there were some angered attendees staring daggers at him. (I can’t help but feel that Hollywood culture is quite seedy and vaguely unwholesome.)”
Gaffigan ended up presenting the award to Ricky Gervais, who was not there to accept it but infamously make a similar joke while hosting the 2020 Golden Globes.
“In this room are some of the most important film and TV executives in the world, people from every background, but they all have one thing in common: They’re all terrified of Ronan Farrow,” he quipped at the time, referencing the journalist who exposed Harvey Weinstein’s pattern of sexual abuse.
“He’s coming for you,” Gervais added before calling the evening’s attendees “perverts.”