The 2026 Golden Globes might’ve looked slick and seamless on TV, but inside the ballroom it was pure organised chaos: fires, rogue ciggies, missing awards and one very relatable “I know I didn’t win this” face.
Here’s what you didn’t see on the broadcast, but absolutely should have.
1. The red carpet was basically an overheated mosh pit
Because the Beverly Hilton is in the middle of a glow-up, arrivals were shuffled out onto the street, with stars herded up a mini staircase that felt suspiciously Met Gala–coded. The carpet was tented this year and, as the afternoon dragged on, the temperature climbed to the point where guests were clamouring for water and staff eventually had to open the back of the tent to let in some air. On top of that, everyone with a seat was allowed to wander the carpet and film content, making it one of the most jam-packed walks of awards season, even as publicists tried to keep frazzled talent moving.
Anywho, here are some other hot moments from the carpet:
2. There was a secret Nobu room and everyone was obsessed
Tucked just off the main ballroom was the alcove that quietly runs the show: the Nobu sushi and drinks room that fills up the second the broadcast cuts to ads. Vanity Fair’s Rebecca Ford clocked Alicia Silverstone chatting with Colman Domingo before she grabbed sushi, while Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos spent ages talking in the area and real-life couple Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst ducked in for a coffee fix.
Amanda Seyfried even queued three rows deep for sushi before later looping the room with her Testament of Ann Lee director Mona Fastvold. Who doesn’t love free food?! Celebrities — they’re just like us.
3. One award just… vanished from the telecast
Usually the Globes churn through every trophy on air, but this year the best score award was quietly handed out during a commercial break, immediately after best song. Ludwig Göransson won for Sinners and used his moment to thank director and longtime collaborator Ryan Coogler, telling him, “Everyone in this room and everyone in this industry is grateful to be living in a timeline with you in it right now,” while also shouting out cast member Miles Caton for learning guitar in just three and a half months. Given Göransson has already nabbed Globes for Oppenheimer and Black Panther, people in the room were left wondering why only this category got relegated to ad-break limbo.
4. Timothée & Kylie’s name card sparked wedding theories
Timothée Chalamet’s win for Best Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Marty Supreme was historic enough, but it was Kylie Jenner’s table card that sent the internet into meltdown.
Footage shared on X showed Jenner excitedly flashing a place card that read “Kylie Jenner-Chalamet” at Timothée, who grinned back like someone who fully clocked what that hyphen was about. Fans immediately started speculating that the pair had either secretly tied the knot or were deep in wedding-planning mode, though neither has confirmed anything. In his speech, Chalamet thanked Jenner as his “partner”, saying, “I’d be lying if I didn’t say those moments didn’t make this moment that much sweeter for my parents, for my partner, I love you,” echoing a Critics’ Choice win days earlier where he thanked her for “three years” and told her, “I couldn’t do this without you”.
5. A backstage fire briefly turned the Globes into a safety drill
While winners were making emotional speeches inside the international ballroom, an actual fire broke out backstage thanks to a catering mishap. According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Chris Gardner, a staffer accidentally knocked over a coffee holder while the sterno underneath was lit, sending flames onto the carpet and smoke up around the curtains. In footage he shared, staff can be seen trying to fan away the smoke and yanking the curtain back as officials put the blaze out, with Gardner later writing that “for a brief moment, the carpet was on fire and smoke wafted up around the curtains” before it was “put out quickly fortunately”.
6. Taylor Swift’s presence was there…. sort of
Taylor Swift skipped the Globes, but her music did not. Host and unapologetic Swiftie Nikki Glaser walked out to “Style”, with “Shake It Off” and “The Fate of Ophelia” piping through the Beverly Hilton across the night. Fans zeroed in on Joe Alwyn sitting in the Hamnet camp as “The Fate of Ophelia” — widely linked to Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce — played in the room, joking that he “deserved hazard pay for that Golden Globes moment” and that Nikki was “terrorising him with these songs”.
He wasn’t the only one with complicated Taylor lore in the audience: Charli xcx, who’s been the subject of fan theories thanks to Swift’s “Actually Romantic” and her own “Sympathy Is a Knife”, took the stage with Joe Keery to present Best Original Song and Best Original Score, prompting one viewer to quip that “Joe Alwyn and Charli xcx being forced to listen to the entirety of 1989 at the Golden Globes”.
7. Sean Penn turned the ballroom into his own smoking area
While most guests were wandering around trying to find a legal spot to sneak a cigarette, Sean Penn solved the problem by… not bothering. Vanity Fair reported that a director at the ceremony pointed out the two-time Oscar winner lighting up a cigarette “right in his seat in the ballroom”, even as others trudged outside to obey the Beverly Hilton’s smoke-free policy. Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Fritz shared a photo on X of Penn puffing away next to Leonardo DiCaprio, captioned “This can’t be legal”, while the image later popped up on the @cigfluencers Instagram account with the caption, “Sean Penn smoking INSIDE the Golden Globes venue!? Incredible stuff happening here”, prompting nominee Hannah Einbinder to comment that she “saw with own eyes”.
Honestly when did smoking become cool again and why?
8. Amanda Seyfried’s viral “I know I lost” face
Amanda Seyfried went into the night with two nominations — one for The Testament of Ann Lee and another for Long Bright River — and walked out with exactly zero trophies but maximum discourse. When Rose Byrne was announced as the winner for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, cameras caught Seyfried grimacing before smoothing it into a sheepish smile and standing to clap, a reaction that quickly made the rounds online.
Later, when Michelle Williams won for Dying for Sex in the limited-series category, Seyfried was facing away from the stage and already clapping before the winner’s name was read out, then visibly grimaced when she realised Williams wasn’t even in the room.
Clips shared on X racked up millions of views, with some users dubbing her a “terrible loser” and “mean girl”, while others insisted her reactions were funny, honest and exactly how most people look when they know they’ve bombed a comp. She had actually predicted earlier on the carpet that she probably wasn’t going home with a Globe, which supports the idea that the faces were more “this is awkward” than calculated shade. It was giving “just vote, just vote” energy and I loved it tbh.
9. Polymarket confused the entire room
If you clocked random graphics predicting winners popping up on screens during commercial breaks and thought, “What is that?”, you were not alone. Guests audibly groaned whenever Polymarket’s logo flashed up with odds for categories like best podcast, and at one point Vanity Fair’s John Ross realised he was standing right in front of the company’s founder, Shayne Coplan, who started explaining how his online prediction market worked. Coplan, 27, is reportedly one of the youngest self-made billionaires, but Ross wrote that as he tried to follow the spiel, it felt like being dropped into an episode of Industry — minus any understanding of what was actually going on.
Honestly the wildest part of that is that someone actually understands what’s going on in Industry.
10. The afterparties weren’t what they used to be (except Netflix’s)
For an awards show that loves its “Hollywood’s biggest party” branding, the post-show vibe was surprisingly low-key in some corners. At the Universal Studios afterparty, Vanity Fair noted that by about 10 pm the night already felt like it was winding down: best actress winner Jessie Buckley was still around taking photos with Bugonia star Aidan Delbis, while Jacobi Jupe sat on director Chloé Zhao’s lap as she said goodnight, and many of Hamnet’s cast — fresh off their win — had either left or were calling cars.
Netflix, on the other hand, clearly did not get the memo to chill. At its Spago bash, winners from Adolescence and KPop Demon Hunters mingled with talent who weren’t even in Netflix projects this year; Jeremy Allen White congratulated supporting actress winner Erin Doherty, while Abbott Elementary’s Janelle James and Lisa Ann Walter caught up in another booth. Adam Sandler and Adam Brody were spotted walking over to meet Leighton Meester, and at the centre of it all were Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Nicole Avant, surrounded by well-wishers and sucker uppers probably.
11. A star gets a little too flirty at an after party
While most of the after parties were kind of a drag, we were still served with some tea thanks to real life Gossip Girl, Deuxmoi. According to a tip shared to the account, a young Hollywood A-lister rocked up with a bunch of relatives and non-industry mates, giving very wholesome “family night out” energy… until he allegedly started getting flirty with one of the brunette women in the group who “definitely had a ring on”.
The anon source claimed there was plenty of leaning in, inside jokes and arm-touching that “wasn’t exactly subtle”, and that the woman’s husband — or at least the friend who came with her — clocked it fast and “did not take it well,” leading to tense body language and a rapid exit. As always with blind items, it’s gossip, not gospel, but if true, awards season might be handing out bravery trophies no one actually asked for.
Lead image: Getty / Golden Globes
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