The LA Times’ recent bombshell investigation into the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the nonprofit that selects Golden Globe winners, revealed allegations of corruption, bullying and self-trafficking for millions of dollars by members.
The report describes HFPA, which has about 90 members, as “struggling to shake up its reputation as a group whose awards or nominations could be impacted with expensive junk and publicity outings”. Despite the pandemic and its devastating impact on the movie business, HFPA members received $ 1,929 million for the fiscal year ended June 2020, “more than double that of three years earlier,” according to the LA Times.
With the virtual Golden Globes airing live February 28 from The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on NBC, the allegations raise questions about the legitimacy of Hollywood’s annual rite of passage for creators and entertainers hoping to expand their careers and businesses by winning a Golden Globe.
Being rejected by the HFPA can have the effect of stifling careers and opportunities, Rashad Robinson, president of the civil rights organization Color of Change, told Yahoo Finance.
‘Those doors that are being closed [by not winning a Golden Globe award] its economic doors, its doors to greater opportunities. They are doors where people can then build businesses for the future, which is why this is so important, ”Color of Change president Rashad Robinson told Yahoo Finance. “That’s why these allegations are so blatant, because the role the Golden Globes had in being some sort of door opener must be questioned.”
When creators and entertainers are banned from nominations and awards on and behind the camera, the impact on their families and communities is huge, Robinson said. The LA Times report pointed out that the HFPA has no black people among the 87 international journalists voting in the Golden Globe Awards.
The nominations from Regina King, Chloe Zhao and Emerald Fennell mark the first time that HFPA has nominated three women in the “Best Director” category. Barbra Streisand is the only woman to ever win the Best Director award in the Globes’ 70-year history. (Streisand won for the 1984 movie “Yentl”.)
The HFPA has also been criticized for failing to recognize black-led projects anymore. A writer for the Netflix series ‘Emily in Paris’, nominated for a Golden Globe for ‘Best Comedy Series’, even called the award ceremony for giving Michaela Coel’s TV series ‘I May Destroy You’ the cold shoulder.
“There are black creatives nominated this year that we need to celebrate and build,” said Robinson. “The category of Golden Globes directors, I think, is more diverse than ever before from a gender perspective. So there are a number of things we need to make sure not to throw away. “
However, Robinson sees the new allegations as an opportunity to investigate the rules for Golden Globe nominations and whether the HFPA adheres to them.
“If the Hollywood Foreign Press Association isn’t willing to question their rules, deal with the leadership challenges they face, then they don’t deserve our support anymore,” Robinson, a leading organizer of the #StopHateForProfit ad boycott told Facebook. in 2020 for not ridding its platform of hate speech.
Networks and advertisers supporting the broadcast of the Golden Globes award should also look closely at the HFPA’s actions, Robinson says. “The networks they run must ask themselves whether or not they are using a system, an awards ceremony that has been manipulated, or whether there are these kinds of violations,” said Robinson. “We would keep our support or we would cut back on other big events if we thought they were rigged, right?”
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