Judy Smith, the real inspiration for ‘Scandal’s’ Olivia Pope, and Dr. Shaun Harper, a USC professor, both walked away from the HFPA on Tuesday, and the PR firm Sunshine Sachs and the law firm Ropes & & Gray LLP may not far behind.
The very bad year for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has only gotten worse.
In the aftermath of a February 21 Los Angeles Times article revealing that the organization behind the Golden Globe Awards currently has zero black people among its members, Time’s Up and more than 100 PR companies threatened to shut down HFPA altogether unless it announced major reforms. The HFPA promised to do this by May 6, but as that date approaches, it is in greater disarray than ever.
On Tuesday, the HFPA board was pressured by NBC, its Globes broadcaster partner, and MRC, the owner of Globes production company Dick Clark Productions, to evict the country. Philip Berk, a 44-year veteran of the group and past eight-term president Los Angeles Times reported that Berk had sent a racist email to his fellow members on Sunday.
From there it only got worse The Hollywood Reporter can only report.
The situation in Berk turned out to be the last straw for Smith & Company, the strategic advisory and crisis communications company run by the famous “fixer”. Judy Smith, the real inspiration for ScandalOlivia Pope, who was hired by HFPA’s Lathan & Watkins law firm to advise the organization just over a month ago.
Early in the relationship, Smith was reportedly outraged by Dr. Shaun Harper, a USC professor who hired the HFPA on March 9 to serve as a diversity and inclusion (D&I) advisor, adding the HFPA 13 new Black members – a seemingly arbitrary number, which would then have brought HFPA membership to 100 for the next Globes ceremony. She then became increasingly frustrated with the organization’s refusal to listen to other advice and commit to concrete action, eventually coming to the conclusion that the problems are so deeply rooted that it is a lost cause, which led her to Tuesday.
Smith could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Harper met with representatives from Time’s Up on Tuesday, including Ava DuVernay and Shonda Rhimes, and from the PR firms that have said they will withhold talent from HFPA events unless major changes are made on May 6. That meeting reportedly did not go well, with Harper being slapped for the proposal regarding 13 new Black members, concluding that the scope of the problem goes beyond what he had initially understood, ultimately leading him to his resigned his position.
Harper was not available for comment, however THR was given a copy of his resignation letter, which reads in part, “As I have learned more about the deep systemic and reputational damage of the Association, I no longer have faith in our ability to work together to bring about the transformational change that the industry and the people in it I deeply respect that demands become of you. My serious, unwavering commitment to the racial and gender equality issues that I work on every day makes it impossible for me to continue serving as an adviser to the HFPA. ”
Harper has also released the HFPA to compensate him for all his work in the past six weeks.
The next domino to fall? Sources say Sunshine Sachs, the HFPA’s longtime PR firm, is considering dropping the organization as a client, as is Ropes & Gray LLP, the law firm appointed by the HFPA on March 9 to conduct a comprehensive overhaul of implement the HFPA policy; assess its membership process, operations and governance; and review its alignment with industry best practices in several areas.
Ropes & Gray and Sunshine Sachs could not be reached for comment.