Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb have hit back at the 2025 Golden Globe nominations, claiming Wicked director Jon M. Chu was snubbed.
During an episode of Today with Hoda & Jenna on Monday (December 9), the two TV hosts discussed the Golden Globes nominations, which were announced earlier that morning. Kotb prefaced that both she and her colleague were “angry” about the topic, before noting that it was on their “jangily list.”
“The Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning, and we were very happy for many things,” she explained.
Kotb and Bush Hager applauded Wicked stars Cynthia Eriva and Ariana Grande for both being nominated for awards. The film was also nominated in the category for Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy. However, Kotb claimed there was “one huge gap” in the nominations.
“The bad news that we’re very disappointed about is Jon Chu, who’s the director of Wicked,” Bush Hager said, as Kotb called the film “a masterpiece.”
Bush Hager continued: “And the amount of work [Chu] had to do to make that so incredible, was not nominated.”
After Kotb apologized to Chu, Bush Hager went on to question how the Golden Globes nominations were decided.
“If we could call someone at the Golden Globes — which we can’t because we don’t know anybody — we would be calling them right now,” she added.
Kotb agreed with her colleague’s frustrations, reiterating that Chu’s film was “a visual, masterpiece, period,” while Bush Hager gushed over the film’s reviews.
“Everybody said it was like going back to olden times in Hollywood,” she explained. “Everything that he had to do to make it colorful and beautiful.”
Kotb, who is leaving the Today show in 2025, added: “Because that was such a tricky movie to pull off because to make it something that was so incredible, it took the best director.”
She concluded that while she’s “surprised” Chu wasn’t nominated for a Golden Globe, she thinks “he’ll get an Oscar nomination for sure.”
Although he didn’t receive a nomination himself, Chu reposted a video from the Golden Globes about Wicked’s nominations on X/Twitter, along with two clapping hands emoji.
In addition to receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture, Wicked was also nominated in the category for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Grande, who plays Glinda in the movie musical, received a nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Motion Picture. Erivo, who plays Elphaba, is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy.
Wicked brought in $114 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters within the first weekend, after hitting cinemas on November 22. The first part of the Universal Pictures film grossed $50.2 million in international markets, for a combined global total of $164.2 million. The film also became the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation after only eight days in theaters.
A slew of popular 2024 films received multiple Golden Globe nominations on Monday. Brady Corbet’s epic drama The Brutalist — which was hailed a “masterpiece” after its festival premiere — received seven nominations, and Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning Anora received five nominations.
Edward Berger’s Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, has also received several nominations, as well as the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, which stars nominees Timothée Chalamet and Edward Norton. However, it was Netflix’s divisive musical drama Emilia Pérez that led the pack with eight nominations.
