Jerrod Carmichael Jokes That Spielberg’s Movie ‘Changed Kanye West’s Mind’ During Golden Globes

After jesting about Rihanna’s long-awaited album and the controversy that kept the Golden Globes off broadcast TV last year, 2023 Globes host Jerrod Carmichael took a moment to make a swipe at Kanye West.

Quieting the crowd after a commercial break, the comedian spoke directly to legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg. “I want to take out a second to shout out Steven Spielberg, who is here,” he said. “It’s an honor sir. Congrats on The Fabelmans. I actually saw it with Kanye and it changed everything for him,” he continued as the audience exploded with laughter. “That’s how good you are. You changed Kanye West’s mind.”

Spielberg, for his part, laughed and raised his hands in prayer and looked up to the sky, as if to say, “if only.” The Fabelmans is the director’s semi-autobiographical 2022 film about a young boy born to Jewish parents in New Jersey who falls in love with cinema (Spielberg himself is Jewish). West, as nearly everyone is aware at this point, has been on a months-long diatribe* spouting antisemitic tropes and hate speech.

*Editor’s Note: After an Oct. 8, 2022 tweet in which he announced he was going “death con [sic] 3 on Jewish people,” Kanye West (Ye) has repeatedly doubled down on antisemitic hate speech, even going so far as to praise Hitler, a man responsible for the systematic murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust. This arrives at a troubling time when antisemitism is on the rise, with the Anti-Defamation League noting a 34% year-over-year increase in antisemitic incidents (assault, harassment and vandalism) in America in 2021. Many companies have cut business ties with the rapper/fashion designer, while numerous musicians, friends and politicians have condemned his comments.