{"id":21744,"date":"2021-05-04T20:03:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T20:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=21744"},"modified":"2021-05-04T22:33:03","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T22:33:03","slug":"golden-globes-hfpa","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/golden-globes-hfpa\/","title":{"rendered":"Will The Hollywood Foreign Press Be Able To Save The Golden Globes?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The Golden Globe Awards (Photo: Kevin Mazur\/Getty Images for Hollywood Foreign Press Association)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year may represent a tipping point for the Golden Globe Awards<\/a>. This winter, amid widespread outcry over some of 2021\u2019s baffling nominations and snubs \u2014 the bland Emily in Paris<\/em> received a couple of nods<\/a> while Michaela Coel<\/a>\u2019s revelatory I May Destroy You<\/em> was shut out entirely <\/a>\u2014 the Los Angeles Times <\/em>published a bombshell report<\/a> detailing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association\u2019s shady practices and lack of diversity. Perhaps most notably, along with a history of self-dealing and what essentially amounts to a payola-type nominating system \u2014 studios that lavish free trips and swag on HFPA members routinely receive nominations \u2014 the<\/em> Times<\/em> reporting revealed that the tax-exempt group of 87 international journalists includes exactly zero Black members<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the HFPA announced a sweeping plan to address this crucial lack and promote diversity more broadly within its ranks. As reported in Variety<\/em><\/a>, the organization\u2019s board aims to admit 20 new members this year, focusing specifically on recruiting Black members. Over the coming 18 months, they aim to increase membership by 50-percent, again focusing on recruiting members from \u201cunderrepresented groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, the HFPA\u2019s board said that they had worked to craft the proposed changes over the past 60 days. \u201cWe have engaged in much-needed, deep introspection with the help and guidance of our outside advisors, experts in diversity and inclusion, and our media partners. Together, we have created a roadmap for transformational change in our organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

That roadmap will still have to be approved by the HFPA\u2019s membership this summer. But, according to\u00a0Deadline<\/a>,<\/em> the organization\u2019s current board has threatened to resign en masse if the motion does not pass.<\/p>\n

Even as NBC, which airs the Golden Globes, and Dick Clark Productions, which produces the show, praised the proposed changes this week, the Times<\/em> published more damning reporting<\/a> about a meeting last month between HFPA consultants and entertainment industry insiders. \u201cThe publicists and advocates expected a preview of substantive reforms,\u201d the Times <\/em>reported. \u201cInstead, as one later complained, the HFPA\u2019s emissaries were \u2018ill prepared and uninformed.\u2019\u201d The meeting resulted in the resignation<\/a> of diversity and inclusion adviser, Shaun Harper.<\/p>\n

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"Our clients have endured racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. We can no longer just shake our heads in disbelief,\u201d Cindi Berger, chairman of R&CPMK, said. https:\/\/t.co\/So8qMTFdO1<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/JQvPob3Tm5<\/a><\/p>\n

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) May 3, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n