Black gowns, sex scandal jokes mark Golden Globe awards show

Golden Globe host Seth Meyers on Sunday tackled head-on the sexual misconduct scandal that has roiled Hollywood, pulling no punches with a series of barbed jokes about powerful men and the women who are standing up to them.

The Golden Globes, the first of Hollywood's major award shows leading up to the Oscars, was the first test of how the industry is handling the scandal that has seen the downfall of dozens of powerful men as women break years of silence.

"Happy New Year Hollywood! It's 2018. Marijuana is finally allowed and sexual harassment finally isn't," quipped Meyers to wild applause from the A-list audience in Beverly Hills.

"There is a new era underway," he went on. "It's been years since a white man was this nervous in Hollywood."

Multiple allegations against actors, filmmakers and Hollywood agents since October 2017 have led to many of the accused being fired, forced to step down, or dropped from creative projects. Some of the A-list stars attending the Globes ceremony have given their own harrowing accounts.

Referring to the male nominees gathered on Sunday for the top television and movie awards, Meyers said, "This is the first time in 3 months it won't be terrifying to hear your name read out loud."

The evening began with the normally colorful red carpet transformed into a sea of black gowns as actresses showed solidarity with victims of sexual harassment inside and outside the entertainment industry.

Every major female celebrity wore black and many spoke on the red carpet in support of the Time's Up Campaign, launched earlier this week, to fight sexual harassment in the workplace.

Men also joined in, with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Ricky Martin wearing black shirts to match their tuxedos.

Among the movie prize winners were James Franco, who took home the Golden Globe for best comedy actor for his cult movie tribute "The Disaster Artist" from indie studio A24.

Sam Rockwell was named best supporting actor for playing a dim-witted police officer in dark comedy "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri," and Allison Janney took the supporting actress honors for playing an abusive mom in ice-skating movie "I, Tonya."

The top prizes, for best movie drama and best movie comedy or musical, will be announced at the end of the three-hour show and awards watchers say the race is wide open.

Magical love story "The Shape of Water" went into the ceremony with a leading seven nominations, including best movie drama. It is followed by Steven Spielberg's passionate ode to press freedom "The Post," and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" with six apiece. All three movies are from the Twentieth Century Fox stable of studios.

In comedies, indie studio A24's mother-daughter film "Lady Bird" and "The Disaster Artist" are seen as likely frontrunners for the statuette.

Female-driven television dramas "The Handmaid's Tale" and HBO's "Big Little Lies" were among the big winners on Sunday.

Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale" won best drama series and lead actress for Elisabeth Moss. Amazon's quirky show about a 1950s housewife turned stand-up comedian, "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel" won best comedy series and its star Rachel Brosnahan won best comedy actress.

"Big Little Lies" brought acting prizes for Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern, who urged women to speak out about those who harass them.

"May we teach our children that speaking out without retribution is our culture's new north star," said Dern.