Amazon’s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, is becoming a Hollywood regular at awards ceremonies. His attendance at last night's Golden Globes made him an inspiration for the jokes as well.
Bezos' Amazon Studies received 11 nominations this year, according to an article in Geekwire, including five for its TV shows and five more for the epic “Manchester by the Sea,” an Amazon-backed theatrical release. Another movie with an Amazon connection, “The Salesman,” was up for best foreign-language film.
One of the video productions, “Goliath,” picked up a best-actor award early in the evening for Billy Bob Thornton’s portrayal of a washed-up lawyer trying to redeem himself. Toward the end of the show, “Manchester by the Sea” star Casey Affleck won the Golden Globe for best actor in a dramatic movie, and thanked Bezos in his acceptance speech, the article notes.
Despite the prestige of the event, Bezos was singled out at the Golden Globes by host Jimmy Fallon who used him as a punch line. After mentioning Amazon’s nominations, Fallon noted that Bezos was out in the audience and that “He actually arrived yesterday, but there was no one around to sign for him,” said Fallon – making a sly reference to Amazon’s main line of business, package delivery.