Tom Hiddleston apologized for the “inelegantly expressed” comments he made while accepting the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture for TV, Sunday, January 8. Some viewers found his speech, featured in the above video, about an interaction he had while visiting Africa out of touch.
“In truth, I was very nervous, and my words just came out wrong,” the Night Manager star, 35, wrote on Facebook Monday, January 9. “Sincerely, my only intention was to salute the incredible bravery and courage of the men and women who work so tirelessly for UNICEF UK, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and World Food Programme, and the children of South Sudan, who continue to find hope and joy in the most difficult conditions. I apologise that my nerves got the better of me.”
Hiddleston — who split from Taylor Swift in September after three months of dating — originally received criticism from Twitter users who felt he came across as self-serving while discussing an encounter he had in South Sudan.
“One night we were having a bite to eat at the canteen, where we were staying, and a group of young men and women tottered over to the table, and we were all having what they call a ‘dirty beer’ in humanitarian language,” he said on stage. “They were a group of Médecins Sans Frontières doctors and nurses. And they wanted to say hello because during the shelling the previous month, they had binge-watched The Night Manager. “
He continued, “And the idea that I could provide ― or that we could provide ― some relief and entertainment for the people who worked for UNICEF … who are fixing the world in the places where it is broken, made me immensely proud.”
Tweeters responded by calling the address “self indulgent wankery” and “cringeworthy,” and encouraged him to take a cue from Meryl Streep, who gave a pointed speech addressing Donald Trump‘s 2015 attack of a disabled reporter.
Scandal star Joshua Malina even chimed in, slamming the first-time Globe winner by tweeting, “Thank you to Tom Hiddleston and all actors who dare to perform in projects that are shown in some of the most dangerous parts of the world. Viewers his first-ever Golden Globe.”
Before releasing his apology on Monday, Hiddleston told TMZ, “We all just have to do the best that we can to help each other out.”
