MERYL STREEP, AI-JEN POO, TARANA BURKE, MICHELLE WILLIAMS Women in black mark new era

For the full list of winners go to nzherald.co.nz

From Oprah Winfrey’s powerful speech to the stars dressed in black, the Golden Globes confronted Hollywood’s post-Harvey Weinstein era with a ceremony dominated by themes of female empowerment.

Winfrey’s speech, which stood out as the night’s most memorable moment, brought everyone to their feet (and some to tears) with rousing talk of equality, women’s rights and the “Me Too” movement as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award.

“I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon,” said Winfrey. “And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say ‘ me too’ again.”

The Globes also featured a significant moment for Kiwis when the award for best original song went to This Is Me from The Greatest Showman, performed by Broadway star Keala Settle, who is of Maori descent and has family in New Zealand.

The evening was dominated by references to the fallout from Hollywood’s sexual harassment reckoning.

Host Seth Meyers opened with a monologue that featured a scathing reference to the disgraced mogul, Weinstein.

“Harvey Weinstein isn’t here tonight,” said Meyers. “He’ll be back in 20 years to be booed during the in memoriam segment.”

Will and Grace star Debra Messing confronted TV channel E! — while live on E! — for its gender pay disparity, referring to Catt Sadler, the host who quit in December because her male co-host earned twice as much.

“I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-host the same as their male cohost,” said Messing.

Actresses Eva Longoria and Laura Dern also mentioned the controversy during their interviews with E!

Several stars invited women’s rights activists to walk the red carpet with them as part of the new Time’s Up movement, which aims to end sexual harassment across a number of industries, not just entertainment.

Dern arrived with farmworker advocate Monica Ramirez, Michelle Williams with “Me Too” founder Tarana Burke, and Meryl Streep with domestic worker advocate Ai-jen Poo.

Natalie Portman, presenting the award for best director, took a swipe at the Globes for excluding female directors, saying: “And here are the all-male nominees,” which was received with whoops.

That award went to Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water, which also won best original score.

In the film categories, the