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The group, which was recently prosecuted for blocking qualified journalists applying for membership, has reportedly paid its members substantial sums to serve as leaders and committee members.
One week to the day before the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards, the organization behind the ceremony is in shock at a scathing statement in the Los Angeles Times.
There are no black journalists among the 87 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, according to the Times, and the organization – whose ethics have long been questioned, dating back to an FCC investigation that led to a 1968-74 broadcast ban and the 1982 Pia Zadora scandal – continues to allow its members to behave in a way that calls into question their ethics and integrity.
The HFPA not only allows its members to receive lavish perks from the studios and networks whose projects they later write and vote on, such as a junket in France that could help explain the recent Golden Globe nominations for the criticized television series. by critics Emily in Paris, among other scrapers. But the organization, which is apparently a nonprofit, also pays its own members – many of whom are struggling journalists – substantial sums to serve as leaders and on various committees.
Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa filed an antitrust lawsuit against the HFPA last year, alleging that the organization was depriving it of potential income by preventing it and other qualified journalists from becoming members in order to protect the HFPA. sales value of current members’ stories in various international territories. (All HFPA members must be based in Los Angeles and cover media from one or more countries outside the United States.) The lawsuit was dismissed, but its juicy details prompted many to take a closer look at the secrecy. HFPA.
The Times spoke with current members of the HFPA who accuse the group of arbitrarily rejecting “well-qualified foreign journalists” who seek membership in favor of people who “are not serious journalists”. A member who was granted anonymity told the Times, “We admit people who are not real journalists because they pose no threat to anyone.”
A spokesperson for the HFPA told the Times that Flaa’s claims are “entirely false”, but said the organization is “determined to address” her lack of diversity. This year’s Golden Globe nominations have come under fire for omitting from its top two image categories films starring predominantly black actors, such as Da 5 Bloods, Judas and the Black Messiah, Ma Rainey’s black background and The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and don’t name the critically acclaimed TV series I can destroy you which presents a black cast, in all categories.
Many observers have also been taken aback by the multiple major names in Sia’s widely controversial and controversial film. Music and the aforementioned television series Emily in Paris. If the first remains inexplicable, the Times reports that Paramount Television transported more than 30 HFPA members to France in 2019 to visit the latter’s set. There they were treated to “a two-night stay at the five-star Peninsula Paris, where rooms currently start at around $ 1,400 a night, and a press conference and lunch at the Musée des Arts Forains, a museum. private room filled with entertainment. rides dating from 1850 where the show was on, “the Times reported.
While an HFPA member told the Times that the backlash of the appointments was justified, the HFPA representative told the Times that “we do not control the individual votes of our members.… We seek to build cultural understanding through film and television and recognize how the power of creative storytelling can educate people around the world on issues of race, representation and orientation. “
The Times also reported that the HFPA was paying its own members increasingly large sums from a growing pool of money generated by the organization’s television deal with NBC. In the tax year ending June 30, 2019, five pension offers were paid between $ 63,433 and $ 135,957. Other members are paid to sit on HFPA committees and write for their website. Two dozen members who sit on the foreign film viewing committee each received $ 3,465 to watch foreign films last month. Members of a travel committee earn $ 2,310 per month, members of a film festival committee earn $ 1,100 per month, and members of an archives committee earn $ 2,200. And members who moderate press conferences receive $ 1,200 per month.
The Times spoke with tax experts who said this type of payment is not typical, especially for a tax-exempt organization. He also noted that television and film academies do not pay their members (although the Film Academy employs some 300 people, while the HFPA is said to have only six employees).
“We are aware of the unprecedented economic challenges facing our employees as a result of the effects of the pandemic,” the HFPA spokesperson told the Times payments. “The HFPA… will continue to compensate them for the range of services they provide to the organization.”
The Times further alleged that HFPA members were among the beneficiaries of a $ 125,000 emergency relief fund for journalists affected by the pandemic that the organization had set up with the Los Angeles Press Club. The existence of the fund, one of the many philanthropic causes supported by the HFPA, has already been reported, but the fact that the HFPA members themselves have requested it has not been.
Diana Ljungaeus, executive director of the Los Angeles Press Club, recounts The Hollywood Reporter that a committee of members of its own board judged nominations only on substance and that the vast majority of recipients were not HFPA members. (THR Scott Feinberg, one of the authors of this story, sits on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Press Club.)
A source close to the HFPA tells The Hollywood Reporter that the organization “has not imposed any conditions on which the LAPC has made grants other than the condition that the money be given to journalists in need in accordance with the charitable mission of the LAPC.” Like all donors to reputable charities, we expect the LAPC to use these funds in the pursuit of their laudable charitable activities. “
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