Are the Golden Globes in danger of disappearing? The American television channel NBC announced on Monday that it would not broadcast the presentation ceremony of these prestigious awards next year, the organizers of which have been strongly criticized by Hollywood studios and stars for their record in terms of diversity. and transparency.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), a group of about 90 journalists who make up the Golden Globes jury, announced last week that it had adopted a series of reforms to improve its representativeness and try to calm the controversy fueled for months by accusations of discrimination, sexism or even corruption against certain members.
But those assurances failed to convince the entertainment industry, and the blame continued to rain through the weekend, until broadcaster NBC’s fateful decision. “ We continue to believe that the HFPA is committed to meaningful reform. However, a change of this magnitude takes time and work and we have the distinct impression that the HFPA needs time to do this properly ”, The channel explained in a statement Monday.
“Therefore, NBC will not broadcast the 2022 edition of the Golden Globes”, she adds, emphasizing having “Good hope to broadcast the show in January 2023” whether the organizers implement their reform program.
The announcement is a blow to the Golden Globes, whose funding is heavily dependent on the broadcast rights to the ceremony, and some entertainment industry watchers fear they may not be able to recover from it.
Most of the members of the HFPA are correspondents working regularly for media known and respected in their country, such as Le Figaro or El País. But the reputation of this very unusual jury has suffered in the past from the presence of a handful of more surprising personalities, with episodic and confidential journalistic activity.
Above all, the organization has been repeatedly criticized for the lack of attention given to black or minority artists, often snubbed in the Golden Globes charts.
“Sexist and racist issues”
On Thursday, the association’s members overwhelmingly approved a series of measures, including a 50% increase in their workforce over the next 18 months, including the recruitment of black journalists, as well as the reform of the opaque and restrictive system governing admissions.
“The very majority vote to reform the Association today reaffirms our determination to change”, HFPA president Ali Sar said. “Because we understand the urgency and the issue of transparency, we will continually update our members as we move forward to make our organization more inclusive and diverse”, he writes.
However, that was not enough to convince Hollywood. Netflix and Amazon Studios have both said they are no longer interested in working with the HFPA as long as there are changes. “Significant” would not have been accomplished while Warner Bros. Studios wrote to Ali Sar on Monday complaining that the HFPA’s reform agenda was not going “Not far enough”.
Until further notice, Warner’s film and television subsidiaries will “Refrain from any direct interaction” with the organization, including regarding the participation of stars in events organized by the HFPA.
“We are only too aware of the energy that we had to deploy in order to obtain press conferences for a number of black performers and creators who undeniably carried works of value”, deplores this letter, quoted by the specialized site Deadline.
“These same works have often gone unnoticed in your nominations and awards”.
In addition, Warner Bros. points the finger at “Press conferences where our artists were confronted with racist, sexist and homophobic issues. For far too long, requests for benefits, special favors and unprofessional requests have been made to our teams and others ” of the sector.
These statements echo those made by Scarlett Johansson, who over the weekend explained that she had refused to take part in HFPA press conferences for years because of “Sexist questions and remarks” who “Bordering on sexual harassment” according to the actress.
His colleague Mark Ruffalo said recently that he could not feel “Proud or happy” of the Golden Globe obtained last February for the series “I Know This Much Is True” from an organization having “A culture of secrecy and exclusion”.
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