Brendan Fraser has seen a meteoric rise after returning to the silver screen for an Oscar-worthy performance in The Whale. To be fair it's not as is if he totally stopped working like some people believe. But after the summer of 2003 things were just...different.


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As GQ reported back in 2018, Fraser revealed a truly disturbing incident that happened at a Hollywood Foreign Press Association luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel. That day in 2003 as Fraser was leaving, former HFPA president Philip Berk stopped the actor. In a room full of people, Berk put out his hand as if to shake Fraser's, but instead reached around, grabbed Fraser's ass cheek, then stuck a finger near his taint and began wiggling.


Fraser froze. Eventually he was able to remove Berk's hand. Fraser was quoted saying "I felt like a little kid... I thought I was going to cry." Berk has never once admitted to any wrong-doing, and has stated, "Mr. Fraser's version is a total fabrication.”


After that, Fraser stayed out of the public eye. Away from the spotlight. The actor continued working on projects, but fell into a depression which included blaming himself for what happened.



Berk has since been expelled from the HFPA after referring to Black Lives Matter as a "racist hate movement." So that's the kind of person we're dealing with.


Even so Fraser has stated that he will not be attending the Golden Globes - an HFPA awards show -  if his film The Whale is nominated. The actor stated, “I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."


In a follow-up interview with GQ, Fraser emphasized, "It’s because of the history that I have with them. And my mother didn’t raise a hypocrite. You can call me a lot of things, but not that.”


The Whale is scheduled to be released December 9th of this year.