Michelle Yeoh Tells Off Golden Globes Producers For Trying To Cut Short Her Speech: “I Can Beat You Up”

Don’t mess with Michelle Yeoh while she’s giving a speech.

The Malaysian actress jokingly told the producers of the 80th Golden Globe Awards to “shut up” when they tried to cut short her acceptance speech by playing music over her remarks.

Yeoh took home the Best Actress In a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy Category for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

“I can beat you up,” said Yeoh as music started to play midway through her remarks. “And that’s serious.”

“I'm just gonna stand here and take this all in,” she said. “Forty years. Not letting go of this.”

“It’s been an amazing journey and an incredible fight to be here today but I think it’s been worth it.

“I remember when I first came to Hollywood, it was a dream come true ... until I got here, because look at this face! I came here and was told, 'You're a minority,' and I was like, 'No that's not possible.'

“Then someone said to me, ‘You speak English?’ I told them, ‘The flight here was about 13 hours long, so I learned.’

“As time went by — I turned 60 last year, and I think all of you women understand this. As the days, the years, and the numbers get bigger, it seems like opportunities start to get smaller as well.”

The actress recalled feeling her career was “all good” and accepting she'd peaked, but then the “best gift” came along with her latest movie, the mind-warping multiverse adventure Everything Everywhere All at Once.

“Thank you A24 for believing in these two goofy, insanely smart, wonderful geniuses, [directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert aka the Daniels], who had the courage to write about a very ordinary immigrant, ageing woman, mother, daughter," she said. 

“I was given this gift of playing this woman who resonated so deeply with me and with so many people because, at the end of the day, in whatever universe she was at, she was fighting for love, for her family.”

Earlier that evening, Yeoh’s screen husband in Everything Everywhere All at Once Ke Huy Quan picked up Best Supporting Actor-Motion Picture

In his speech, a teary Quah paid tribute to the Daniels as well as his first-ever director, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’s Steven Spielberg, himself a winner for Best Director and Best Picture-Drama for The Fablemans.

“Thank you so much,” Quan, 51, said. “I was raised to never forget where I came from and to always remember who gave me my first opportunity, so Steven Spielberg, thank you.

“ For so many years I was afraid I had nothing more to offer, that no matter what I did I would never surpass what I achieved as a kid.

“Thankfully, more than 30 years later, two guys thought of me. They remembered that kid and gave me an opportunity to try again.

“Everything that has happened since has been unbelievable, Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert thank you so much for helping me find my answer, you have given me more than I could have hoped.”

While Yeoh and Quan are considered frontrunners in the Academy Awards race, it’s too early to say if their Globes victory will land them Oscar nominations. The Globes and Oscars have no overlap in voters.

Shortly after the Globes, Yeoh and Ke received Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor nominations at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards, as did Everything Everywhere All At Once cast-mates Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu. The ensemble is also up for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

 The Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan 24; the ceremony, to be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, is happening on Mar 12, 7pm ET (or Mar 13, 8am SG).

Watch Yeoh's full press room speech at the Golden Globes here:

Catch select moments from the 80th Golden Globe Awards on meWATCH.  Everything Everywhere All at Once is now on HBO Go.

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos