Can Someone Tell the Golden Globes “Hidden Fences” Isn’t a Movie?

If you didn’t watch last night’s Golden Globes, but only saw the reactions online, you may have thought that the night’s biggest movie was something called Hidden Fences.

As you hopefully know, there is no movie called Hidden Fences. There is Fences, starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, based on the play by August Wilson. And there is Hidden Figures, the story of the African-American women who played pivotal roles in sending the first astronaut into space, which just so happened to be the top grossing movie at the box office this weekend. Hidden Fences, meanwhile, was a slip-up from E!’s red carpet host Jenna Bush Hager.

Now, that could be an innocent mistake. Hager has since issued a tearful apology, and these things do happen all the time. On the same red carpet, Al Roker called Jessica Biel Jessica Alba, and Natalie Morales referred to the show Transparent as Transgender (an incredibly cringeworthy mistake itself).

But then later on in the show, Michael Keaton also referenced the movie Hidden Fences, and this all became a lot harder to write off as a simple mistake.

In an industry constantly being criticized for its lack of diversity, this year’s Golden Globes showed huge progress. However, for those who were skeptical that the industry itself had actually changed, and wanted proof that this sudden inclusivity was more than just lip service, this was a clear sign of how far we actually have to go.

The Hollywood Foreign Press’ infatuation with La La Land  meant that a lot of really stellar work was overlooked. And while this could be written off as a matter of taste, that “taste,” more often than not, erases the work of Black artists. Or if it recognizes the art, it too often sees that end product as existing in a vacuum.

If you’re looking for a great movie to watch, see Fences. Definitely see Hidden Figures. But don’t try to find showtimes for the Golden Globes hit Hidden Fences, because that’s not a thing.

(image via 20th Century Fox)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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