Judd Apatow squashed a personal beef with the Golden Globes on Sunday night in order to present the award for Best Director to Paul Thomas Anderson.

The director joked that he’d been boycotting the ceremony for the last decade, since his 2015 film Trainwreck lost the Best Picture – Musical or Comedy category to Ridley Scott’s The Martian.

“You know, Ridley Scott. America’s favorite comedy director. Director of such hilarious comedies as Gladiator, Blade Runner and Alien. I can’t wait till later tonight when Best Comedy is won by Hamnet,” he joked, referring to Chloe Zhao’s heart-wrenching film about William and Agnes Shakespeare’s personal tragedy that inspired the play Hamlet.

Apatow has been so affected by the slight that he says he’s been unable to move on even through some of the most historic moments of the last 10 years.

“A lot has happened since then…we’ve had COVID. I believe we’re a dictatorship now. And I’m still pretty focused on this Martian thing. I gotta be honest with you,” he said. “As an example to inspire America, I’m going to squash that beef and start the healing right now.”

Apatow was presenting in a different category this year, handing the Best Director award to Anderson for One Battle After Another. He said he hopes the honor of being asked to present means that the Globes organizers think he’s a pretty good director, too.

“I’m very honored to be asked to present the award for Best Director, because I’m pretty sure that means the Globes people think I’m also one of the best directors. I mean, they wouldn’t have someone to present this who is worse than the nominees. They probably would want someone who was, not better, at least as good as them, as a sign of respect,” he said. “So thank you for this. I mean, this is basically the equivalent of getting a lifetime achievement award.”

He also thanked his wife, Leslie Mann, calling her his “muse.”

“Sometimes I get this fear that I’m not as good as everyone else is directing, because, you know, I don’t know how to move the camera or what the lenses do or what a Best Boy is,” he sarcastically added.

Apatow has been nominated personally for one Golden Globe nomination as a co-writer on the original song “Walk Hard” from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.