Golden Globes: U.S. Senators Slam the ‘Glamorization’ of E-Cigarettes

Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ hot dog chomping and fake smoking skits from the Golden Globes audience led to some of the night’s funniest moments, but they have riled up a group of U.S. senators. 

“The Golden Globes celebrates entertainers who are an influence on young fans,” the four Democratic senators wrote on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

“We ask the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and NBC Universal to take actions to ensure that future broadcasts of the Golden Globes do not intentionally feature images of e-cigarettes.”

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“Such action would help to avoid the glamorization of smoking and protect the health of young fans,” claimed the letter signed by Dick Durbin of Illinois, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Edward Markey of Massachusetts.

Along with the former Seinfeld star’s hilarious segment, in which she donned a pair of sunglasses and puffed on an e-cigarette alongside Reese Witherspoon, best actor winner Leonardo DiCaprio was also spotted smoking an e-cigarette during the broadcast. 

Aiming to help smokers quit, the battery-powered devices turn nicotine-laced liquid into vapor but the fast-growing demand for the product has brought a new set of problems. 

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They have become so popular that fake smokers have become a menace in bars and restaurants where the real thing is prohibited, prompting motions in a number of states to ban them from public places. 

On Monday, City Council members in Chicago advanced a plan backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to treat e-cigarettes like most other tobacco products under the Clean Indoor Air Act. That means the products wouldn’t be allowed inside public places, reported the Chicago Tribune. 

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In December, New York City voted to extend the ban on smoking traditional cigarettes in public places, restaurants, bars and in private office buildings to include e-cigarettes.

Lawmakers in Los Angeles are seeking similar moves, along with introducing a bill that could possibly block the sale of electronic cigarettes via the Internet.