A fire sprinkler went off off outside the Beverly Hilton midday Sunday, spraying untold gallons of water and turning the Golden Globes red carpet into a big, wet mess.
Though the stars hadn’t yet begun to arrive when the water started gushing just after noon, several journalists and a few other folks who had already checked in at the event tweeted photos and other details from the soggy scene.
Updating Live: Golden Globes 2014: TheWrap’s Live Blog
Among them was Fandango chief correspondent Dave Karger, who tweeted this image of the “red sea”:
Yikes! A burst pipe at the Beverly Hilton has turned the #GoldenGlobes red carpet into the red sea! pic.twitter.com/sI98OXl57a
— Dave Karger (@davekarger) January 12, 2014
IMDB managing editor Keith Simonton, who’d been tweeting from the venue since Sunday morning, said the cause was a light that was set up too close to a sprinkler head, triggering the gusher.
Reportedly, a light staged too close to a sprinkler head & the heat triggered it. Will "take forever" to flush line pic.twitter.com/bLzha4BKxY
— Keith Simanton (@IMDbKeith) January 12, 2014
An hour or so later, the Beverly Hilton, HFPA and dick clark productions issued the following statement:
“We can confirm that there was a malfunction with a sprinkler near the red carpet. The situation was quickly resolved. Despite the incident the red carpet will open at its regularly scheduled time. As some of the biggest names in entertainment are scheduled to attend Golden Globe Awards tonight, we wanted to give the carpet one last wash before it opened.”
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https://twitter.com/IMDbKeith/statuses/422474354190848000
“House of Cards” screenwriter Beau Willimon got this shot of the cleanup efforts at about 1:30 p.m.:
So a water main broke & red carpet is flooded. Random act of God, or is FU up to something? @HouseofCards pic.twitter.com/O2L8W36dP9
— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) January 12, 2014
By 2: 30, with stars due to arrive in about an hour, squeegies and vacuum cleaners were still in full employ.
Though the water wasn’t expected to pose a problem, it definitely posed an unpleasant aroma.
One carpet-walker told TheWrap: “It smells like a wet dog.”