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Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum Embrace Queer Slang at the Golden Globes: “We Absolutely Love It!”
Jan
At Sunday night’s Golden Globes, Wicked stars Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum stole the spotlight — not just for their Hollywood charm but for their playful dive into queer slang. Presenting together on stage, the duo leaned into internet culture with hilarious results.
Goldblum Embraces His ‘Zaddy’ Status
Yeoh kicked things off by noting that she and Goldblum had recently learned some internet lingo directed at them. “The internet has been saying things about us,” she teased.
Goldblum, ever the charismatic icon, confessed, “People, for instance, have been calling me ‘zaddy.’”
Caught off guard, Yeoh asked, “Sorry, what’s ‘zaddy’?”
Before he could explain, Yeoh added with a laugh, “The same people have been saying that I’m serving ‘mother.’”
A Lesson in Drag Culture from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande
The pair then looked to their Wicked costars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande — both RuPaul’s Drag Race superfans — for confirmation on how to correctly use the slang.
Erivo and Grande cheered them on from the audience, prompting Yeoh to try her hand at a phrase made famous by the drag community: “slay the house down boots.”
With her signature grace, Yeoh playfully hesitated. “Come on, I would never slay anyone’s house down,” she joked, eliciting laughter from the crowd.
Celebrating Queer Culture in Mainstream Hollywood
Goldblum added, “While we don’t fully understand what these things mean,” to which Yeoh quickly chimed in, “We absolutely love it!”
Their playful exchange marked a lighthearted embrace of queer culture on one of Hollywood’s biggest nights. Drag culture, particularly phrases like “mother,” “zaddy,” and “slay the house down boots,” has become increasingly mainstream thanks to RuPaul’s Drag Race and stars like Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.
Golden Globes and Beyond
Of the Wicked foursome who participated in the bit, only Yeoh has yet to appear as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Grande made a memorable appearance on the show’s season 15 premiere, Erivo joined the panel during season 13, and Goldblum co-hosted the season 12 political debate challenge that birthed Jaida Essence Hall’s iconic “look over there!” meme.
While both Erivo and Grande lost in their acting categories at the Globes, Wicked was honored with the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award, recognizing its massive success at the box office.
It seems that whether on stage or in memes, this cast knows how to slay — and they’re loving every second of it.
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