The moment probably was more confusing than funny for most of those watching the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday night.
But it likely drew some smiles from a particular set of sports fans. After all, if you know, you know.
As host Nikki Glaser welcomed the next presenters to the stage at the Beverly Hilton, she made an out-of-nowhere reference to an NBA team from five decades ago.
“Your next presenters famously led the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers to an NBA championship,” Glaser said. “Please welcome Chris Pine and Ana de Armas.”
Wait a second. Pine and de Armas are obviously actors, not professional basketball players. Neither Pine, 45, nor de Armas, 37, were even alive when the Blazers won their lone NBA title.
No real Blazers players, current or former, were anywhere to be seen on Sunday. So, what was the joke and why was it included in the show?
Call it an Easter egg from the mind of famous Blazers fan Ian Karmel.
“Guilty,” the former Portland comedian wrote on Bluesky when someone correctly guessed that the joke must have come from him.
Karmel was among the writers for the show as Glaser hosted it for the second year in a row. And Karmel has not been shy about his Blazers fandom, even previously appearing during broadcasts and postgame shows.
Sunday’s Golden Globes show went on without skipping a beat after Glaser’s Blazers shout-out. Pine and de Armas took the stage and announced the nominees for best female actor in a motion picture drama. For the record, Jessie Buckley took home the award for “Hamnet.”