‘Ozempic’s biggest night’: GLP-1s back in Hollywood spotlight at 2025 Golden Globes

As the 2025 Hollywood awards season kicked off with the Golden Globes on Sunday night, so too did another round of jokes, speculation and sponsorships linking the industry to the use of GLP-1 medications for weight loss.

Comedian Nikki Glaser, host of the 2025 Golden Globe Awards ceremony, dove right in at the start of her opening monologue: “Good evening, and welcome to the 82nd Golden Globes—Ozempic’s biggest night,” she began.

The wisecrack, of course, is a nod to the rumors of the rampant off-label, purely cosmetic use of drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound by celebrities hoping to slim down for roles or red carpet appearances, contrary to the meds’ approved uses to treat only those who are clinically overweight or obese, or who have Type 2 diabetes.

Those rumors reached such a fever pitch last year that Lilly took it upon itself to produce a pair of commercials calling out that off-label use. One of the ads seemed to take aim specifically at the practice in Hollywood: It began airing shortly before the 2024 Academy Awards and said, “Some people have been using medicine never meant for them, for the smaller dress or tux, for a big night, for vanity. But that’s not the point. People whose health is affected by obesity are the reason we work on these medications. It matters who gets them.”

This year saw Lilly air two ads for Zepbound and Mounjaro during the Golden Globes. At one point toward the end of Sunday night’s broadcast, just before a commercial break, a voiceover announced, “CBS’ telecast of the 82nd Golden Globe Awards is sponsored by Lilly, a medicine company,” as the pharma’s logo and tagline appeared onscreen over a roving shot of the ceremony’s star-studded audience.

A Lilly spokesperson clarified to Fierce Pharma Marketing via email that the CBS announcement served as “a customary billboard that announces commercial breaks to highlight brands that advertise during their broadcasts,” adding, “Lilly did not ‘sponsor’ the Golden Globes.”

Additionally, according to the spokesperson, “We also want to note our commercials were focused on ensuring that our patients receive the correct information on our GLP-1 medicines. Mounjaro and Zepbound are not for cosmetic weight loss and we don’t condone off label usage of these medications.”

The awards show broadcast was filled with additional mentions of GLP-1s, in the form of commercials that played throughout the broadcast, Yahoo Life reports. Along with spots for Lilly and Novo’s drugs, other nods to weight-loss meds reportedly arrived in advertisements for WeightWatchers, which recently launched a GLP-1 support program, and telehealth provider Hers, which offers compounded semaglutide.

Weight-loss drugs’ taking center stage at this year’s Golden Globes echoed their prevalence throughout last year’s awards season.

Just as Glaser slipped in a jab at off-label Ozempic use in Sunday’s ceremony, so too did 2024 Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel’s opening monologue last March included the quip, “Everybody looks so great. When I look around this room, I can’t help but wonder, ‘Is Ozempic right for me?’”

Editor's note: This story was updated Jan. 8 with clarification from a Lilly spokesperson about the nature of the company's relationship with the Golden Globes.