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With Sunday’s Golden Globes just around the corner, preparations for the annual show will normally proceed at a breakneck pace. Stars would dress up in gowns and tuxedos and practice their red carpet sound clips, while Hollywood would be buzzing with questions about who will win the awards.
Instead, with the pandemic forcing the 78th Golden Globes to be held virtually, the glitz and glamor of the famous loose and star-studded show will be toned down. And following a Times investigation that raised new questions about the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., Which has 87 members, which distributes the awards, some believe the very future of the Globes could be threatened if the organization does not undertake reforms.
While the HFPA has worked to improve its image in recent years, in large part thanks to increased charitable donations, reports from the Times revealed that the group still struggled to shake its reputation that voters are easily influenced by high-priced junkets in exotic locations and warm relationships with studios. , networks and A-listers.
Even as the HFPA rebuffed allegations made in an antitrust lawsuit by Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa, some members of the group have raised growing criticism of his alleged ethical loopholes and personal dealings. The HFPA said the allegations were unproven and “were just repeating old tropes” about the organization. (Flaa’s lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in November. An amended petition is pending.)
The Times investigation also highlighted the fact that the group currently has no black members, further fueling criticism of this year’s Globes picks, which did not include any of the Black-led award contenders. of this year, such as “Da 5 Bloods”, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “One Night in Miami”, nominated for best group film award.
In a statement to The Times Thursday, a representative from HFPA said, “We are fully committed to ensuring that our members reflect the communities around the world who love film, television and the artists who inspire and educate them. We understand that we need to attract black members, as well as members from other under-represented backgrounds, and we will work immediately to implement a plan of action to achieve those goals as soon as possible. “
The lack of black members in a group voting on one of the industry’s most prestigious awards has drawn widespread attention on social media and elsewhere.
Golden Globe nominee director Ava DuVernay for “Selma,” Twitter in response to a Hollywood Reporter headline that read “LA Times Reveals HFPA Has Zero Black Members,” writes: “Reveals? As in, people act like this is not already widely known? For years?”
“One Night in Miami” director Regina King, who this year became the first black woman since DuVernay to receive a nod from the Globes management, responded with a gif of rapper Drake pointing and smiling.
A representative from HFPA said the group welcomes all journalists of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds based in Southern California who write for international media to apply, noting that members are predominantly female and over 35% are from from non-European countries. In addition, the HFPA has not ruled out modifying its rules to expand the pool of candidates.
In 2013, the HFPA rejected a black candidate, Samantha Ofole-Prince, based in the United Kingdom, a decision which was the subject of controversy within the group, according to the Wrap. In an interview shortly after, HFPA chairman Theo Kingma was asked about the group’s lack of black members, telling The Wrap: “There is no one there. [Black] because they can’t afford to come and live here. I’ve been a member for 21 years and I can promise you I’ve never heard of anything racial.
In an interview Thursday, Kingma said he was working to remedy the lack of black members in the voting body. “This is something that we should seriously consider; times have changed, but unfortunately our statutes do not change as quickly, ”he said, noting that it takes two-thirds of the membership to approve changes.
Regarding Ofole-Prince, Kingma said: “Unfortunately, she did not fulfill the [bylaws] conditions. … Her publications paid her less than European publications, and she couldn’t make a living here, which was more of the reason to accept it. HFPA access would have really helped her.
It is unclear to what extent the renewed criticism will impact television broadcasting. A source close to the show said Thursday’s co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will finalize their monologue over the next two days, but gave no details.
The show, which airs on NBC, is expected to highlight the charitable work of the HFPA, which included more than $ 5 million in grants last year. The nonprofit anti-hunger Feeding America is a “philanthropic partner” on this year’s show, and a number of frontline and essential workers as well as food bank workers have been invited by the HFPA to attend the ceremony.
A representative for NBCUniversal, which paid $ 27.4 million in licensing fees to the HFPA last year, declined to comment on this story, as did Dick Clark Productions, which is partnering with the HFPA to produce the program.
An NBCUniversal person familiar with the matter but not authorized to comment publicly said the network supports the HFPA’s action plan on diversity. The person also said that NBCUniversal expects any program provider to conduct themselves with integrity and act within the law and that the company has no reason to believe that the HFPA has acted unlawfully or otherwise. to ethics.
Meanwhile, a number of Hollywood insiders have weighed in with their own critics.
In response to a tweet about the investigation from film journalist Mark Harris, producer Lynda Obst, whose credits include films such as “Interstellar” and shows such as “Good Girls Revolt,” wrote on Sunday that the Globes were “A sham backed by the marketing departments of the studios and now the streamers. ”
Obst continued hours later, tweeting, with an upside down smiley face and laughing emojis, “I mean clearly like a bell that as a producer I love the Golden Globes and the HFPA is full of buddies.” of all. in the world that I love and plan to continue to eat and eat as I have for decades into eternity!
TV showrunner Glen Mazzara, whose credits include “The Shield” and “The Walking Dead,” wrote on Twitter following the investigation, “If Hollywood really wants to change as they say it, everyone would just boycott this year’s show. Instead, I suspect it will be business as usual, with people using their acceptance speeches as soap boxes. We love to pontificate, don’t we?
Variety editor Claudia Eller wrote an op-ed, writing that, in light of stories from The Times, the HFPA must make changes to address long-standing concerns about its ethics and practices. “I just hope that as millions of us tune in to watch Sunday’s show, the honors organization is busy planning all of the substantial changes needed to actually clean up her act – as she has been committed to doing so for a long time. too many years, ”Eller wrote.
In the days following the publication of its articles, The Times received a number of emails from people working in the industry who shared their own dark views of the HFPA. A longtime publicist – who has dealt with the band for decades and who as others refused to be identified for fear of reprisal – called the members of the group “too demanding and spoiled children”, adding: “I still do not know why the studios are appeasing this group whose price has not no Sens.” Another seasoned film journalist who is a member of the Film and Television Academies wrote, “Hope this buries them and their petty rewards.
Many of the criticisms of the HFPA’s ethics and practices have long been known, and the slurs against the group came directly from the stage of their own TV show. Hosting the awards in 2016, Ricky Gervais dismissed the Globes as “worthless,” saying it was little more than an excuse for HFPA members to take selfies with stars. As a nod to the somewhat obscure nature of the organization, Fey and Poehler engaged in a running joke while hosting in 2013 in which they mistook HFPA for the sexually transmitted infection HPV. . “HFPA can lead to cancer of the cervix,” said Poehler unmoved.
Despite the renewed controversy surrounding the HFPA, which follows a long history of scandals the group has overcome, the Globes continue to play a critical role in awards season, and millions of dollars are spent by studios each year for trying to leverage the awards as a marketing tool for Oscar hopefuls. As one longtime film publicist put it, “Whether it’s film or television, it’s really hard for adults to come up with fancy rates without rewards. You need everything you can. “
Indeed, while some believe that continued negative attention will do more damage to the HFPA unless reforms are undertaken, there is a powerful financial incentive across Hollywood to protect the Globes, continuing to make the show look fun and not. huge consequences, even if it is serious. company in which millions of dollars are invested annually.
Asked whether the findings of the Times investigation could snowball into a bigger public relations crisis for the HFPA – and, by extension, NBC and all the other Hollywood entities participating in the Globes – a Seasoned public relations veteran said, “It’s possible, but they’re such an anomaly in their scandals and bad behavior. They are called out, but everyone says, “Oh, it’s HFPA, so no surprise.” ”
Nonetheless, this source concluded: “Their stock is decreasing.”
Times editors Stephen Battaglio, Stacy Perman and Glenn Whipp contributed to this report.
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