The 7 most infamous Golden Globes moments of all time

THE Golden Globes has become an unmissable awards show — but it’s taken a lot of controversial moments to get it to the this point.

Scarlett Johansson was groped on the red carpet in 2006.

SOMEHOW, against all expectations, the Golden Globes became an unmissable awards show, the least-scripted, most-unpredictable, freewheelingest stop on the Hollywood awards circuit.

Formerly shunned and mocked, these days the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) puts on an evening that’s becoming the envy of the Oscars, which is always trying to liven things up and never quite succeeds.

Here’s a look back at the Globes’ torturous path to fabulousness.

1958: Fourteen years after the Globes are launched, the Rat Pack take over the show, previously dominated by boring journalists handing out awards. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., waving cigarettes and sipping drinks, simply commandeer the stage — to the delight of the HFPA, which thereafter decides to invite celebs to hijack the festivities.

1968-1974: After the FCC publicly questions the integrity of the awards, NBC dumps the show from the air, picking it up again in 1975.

1982: After a talentless actress named Pia Zadora wins “best new star” honours for a terrible movie amid reports that her wealthy husband had influenced voters with favours and perks, no network will touch the show. Producer Dick Clark keeps it going by selling it to a patchwork quilt of syndicated stations, and the show gradually rebuilds its reputation as the HFPA successfully encourages members to be more professional. By 1988, the show is promoted to TBS, and by 1995 it’s back to its traditional home on NBC, which is hungry for an event to rival ABC’s Oscar telecast.

1998: Christine Lahti, winner of best actress for her TV drama “Chicago Hope,” is notoriously absent when her name is called, and later admits she was in the ladies’ room. Robin Williams, riffing madly from the stage, has the audience howling with laughter in the meantime.

1999: Sharon Stone nearly destroys the Globes all over again when, as she seeks recognition for her comedy The Muse, publicists for the film send $400 Coach watches to voters, who oblige by throwing her a nomination. The HFPA orders members to return the trinkets, and Stone doesn’t win the award.

2006: Gay fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi stuns Scarlett Johansson when he grabs one of her breasts while interviewing her on the red carpet. Not cool, but the moment underscores the Globes’ reputation as the anything-can-happen awards show, an antidote to the staid and plodding Oscar telecast.

2010: Host Ricky Gervais, making a series of mean-spirited and often-hilarious jokes about celebrities, gives the show the “Can you believe he said that?” edge it has always lacked. He will return three more times in the following years, helping to boost the show’s popularity to another level, and attracting Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as his successors, from 2013 to 2015.

Ricky Gervais pulled no punches during his hosting stints at the Golden Globes.

This story originally appeared in the NY Post and is republished here with permission.

Originally published as The 7 most infamous Golden Globes moments of all time