Nikki Glaser promises she’s not as mean as some people may think!
During the TIME100 Summit on Wednesday, April 23, the 40-year-old comedian revealed one of her Golden Globes jokes weighed a bit more heavily on her than others.
“I think I get a reputation of being mean because of the roast, but I’m hired to [be] mean for those,” said Glaser, who previously participated in 2024’s The Roast of Tom Brady.
Switching gears, she added, “Golden Globes, it’s not my job to ruin their night.”
Glaser caught heat for using audience members Benny Blanco and Selena Gomez’s relationship as the punchline to one of her jokes in her opening monologue during the 2025 Golden Globes in January.
The Only Murders in the Building actress, 32, was nominated for her work in the Hulu comedy and Netflix’s Emilia Pérez.
“Selena Gomez is here with Benny Blanco, her new fiancé, and Benny Blanco is here because of the genie who granted him that wish,” Glaser said, before calling the music producer, 37, a “lucky guy.”
During Wednesday’s TIME100 Summit, Glaser admitted, “The Golden Globes, I feel like the one joke that I would’ve been like, ‘That was kind of mean,’ was, I said that Selena Gomez is here because of Emilia Pérez and Benny Blanco is here because the genie granted him that one wish and looking back, I was like that was pretty mean.”
She continued, “Because everyone’s like he’s not attractive enough for her and for me, I never looked at them and actually thought that. I feel like she won too with it, like I think he’s really cool.”
The comedian said the joke didn’t come from “a mean place,” which made her feel that her punch lines were okay to say.
According to Glaser, she had Blanco’s blessing before sharing the joke with the CBS live show’s reported 9.3 million viewers.
“I texted him before, too,” she said. “I got his number and was like, ‘Hey, you don’t know me, but I’m hosting this thing. Can I say that you’re there because a genie granted you a wish?’ ”
Luckily for Glaser, the “Call Me When You Break Up” hitmakers were good sports.
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“He was like, “That’s hilarious, let me run it by Selena,” and I was like ‘Hell yeah,’ and then we were all waiting in the writer’s room like, ‘When is he going to write?’ and he wrote back and was like, ‘Selena thinks it’s great,’ ” she said. “So they gave me permission.”
She also credited fellow comedian Jimmy Kimmel for telling her, “If you’re worried about a joke, and how it’s going to go over, just ask them.”
Glaser, who is set to host the 2026 Golden Globes next year, previously mentioned asking Blanco for permission to make the joke during a February appearance on Armchair Expert. She said she got Blanco’s number from Eric André and said she “would never have done that joke” without Blanco and Gomez’s blessing.
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