This image released by NBC shows Michelle Yeoh accepting the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy award during the 80th Annual Golden Globes at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 10. Rich Polk/NBC via AP.
Michelle Yeoh’s now-viral “shut up” was the highlight of the night at the 80th Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 10.
She won Best Actress in a Motion Picture–Musical or Comedy for her role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
“I’m just going to stand here and take this all in,” she said moments after receiving her statue.
She reminisced on when she first came to Hollywood.
“It was a dream come true—until I got here. I came here and was told, ‘You’re a minority.’”
She then reflected on turning 60 years old, saying, “I think all of you women understand this as the days, years, numbers get bigger, the opportunities get smaller as well.”
As she started to talk about the gift that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is, the piano play-off music—to prompt speakers to wrap up and leave the stage—started and she said, “Shut up, please.”
She laughed and the audience laughed along with her and applauded her.
Yeoh continued, “I can beat you up and I’m serious.”
Her last words onstage paid homage to all people of Asian descent.
“This is also for all the shoulders that I stand on, all who came before me, who look like me and all who are going on this journey with me forward.”
Korean American Chloe Flower was the in-house pianist for the event and many people assumed she was the one who cut the winners’ speeches short.
Flower was hired to play some live piano whenever the broadcast returned from a commercial break. A piano also played whenever a winner’s speech began to go over the allotted time, but in those cases, it was a pre-recorded track, and not coming from Flower, which nobody realized.
Flower said she spoke to Yeoh after her big win and that there were no hard feelings between them.
This image released by NBC shows Ke Huy Quan accepting the Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture award. Rich Polk/NBC via AP
The first award handed out that night was for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, which Yeoh’s movie husband, Ke Huy Quan, won.
He was overcome with emotion during his acceptance speech.
“I was raised to never forget where I came from,” the Vietnamese actor began. “And to always remember who gave me my first opportunity. I am so happy to see Steven Spielberg here tonight.”
“When I started my career as a child actor in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, I felt so very lucky to have been chosen. As I grew older, I started to wonder if…I had nothing more to offer…I would never surpass what I achieved as a kid.”
He thanked directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for the opportunity 30 years later.
“You have given me more than I could have ever hoped.”
Quan is only the second Asian actor to win the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor—the first was Haing S. Ngor, who won in 1984 for “The Killing Fields.”
Yeoh is the second Asian actor to win the Golden Globe for Best Comedy/Musical Actress. Her victory comes three years after Awkwafina (“The Farewell”) made history.
The Golden Globes have been seen as the early indicator for the Oscars for years. Academy Award wins for Yeoh or Quan would make history again—no person of East, South, or Southeast Asian descent has ever won Best Actress, and the last (and only) actor of Asian descent to win Best Supporting Actor was Ngor.
Nominations for the 95th Oscars will be announced on Jan. 24, and the awards ceremony will be held in March.