Nikki Glaser Made a System of a Down Joke at Golden Globes

Metal made its way onto mainstream TV last night (Jan. 5) when comedian Nikki Glaser made a System of a Down joke at the 2025 Golden Globe Awards. The band’s own Daron Malakian took note of the mention and responded in a post on social media.

The comedian was tasked with introducing iconic actress Glenn Close, who was to present the award for Best Motion Picture — Drama (see the full list of winners here). While listing off a few of Close’s accolades, she threw in a tidbit about System of a Down.

“… To present our next award please welcome, from Netflix’s Back in Action, three-time Golden Globe Award winner, Hollywood icon and former drummer for System of a Down — Glenn Close,” Glaser said.

Malakian posted the snippet of Glaser’s introduction on his Instagram with a joke of his own.

“Bet you didn’t know! Bet you didn’t know! Somewhere between our first drummer [Ontronik Khachaturian] and John [Dolmayan], Glenn Close was tearing shit up on the drums for us!”

Most fans in the comments of the post went along with the joke, but some seemed utterly confused, as if they believed the comment was true.

“Wait what?” one of the comments read.

See the post below.

Funny enough, Close, who is known for playing Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmations (among other prominent roles) actually had to be censored during the broadcast due to her use of profanity. After citing a letter that late Hollywood icon Katharine Hepburn wrote to her about their shared “terrifying profession,” Close declared, “We are all so fucking blessed and lucky,” according to Entertainment Weekly.

That bit of her speech was censored during the live airing. Thus, Close may not have actually been a member of System of a Down, but she’s still a badass nonetheless.

In other Golden Globes news, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Ross also earned their third award, winning Best Original Score (Motion Picture) for their work on the movie Challengers.