Ricky Gervais accused Apple of using Chinese sweatshops during his Golden Globe opening speech

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By Oliver Haslam
last updated

Tim Cook at Golden Globes
Tim Cook at Golden Globes (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Ricky Gervais was hosting the 77th Golden Globes.
  • He praised "The Morning Show."
  • But then laid into Apple and other companies.

Last night saw the 77th Golden Globes cause more than a few surprises, one of which was comedian Ricky Gervais calling out Apple and other companies for using "sweatshops in China" after speaking about Apple TV+.

The moment came during Gervais's introduction speech which lasted for almost eight minutes. During the speech, Gervais lashed out at plenty of people, much of it in good humor. But when he turned his attention to Apple, Amazon, and others, he didn't seem to be joking anymore.

Apple rolled into the TV game with a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing, made by a company that runs sweatshops in China. So, you say you're woke, but the companies you work for, unbelievable. Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service, you'd call your agent, wouldn't you?If you do win an award tonight, don't use it as a platform to make a political speech. You're not in a position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real-world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So, if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god, and f*** off.

You can see the full speech on Twitter, and it's absolutely worth a watch. If only to see Hollywood's elite put in their place for a few minutes.

To top things off, Apple TV+ didn't win any of the awards it was previously nominated for.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.