CRIMES OF THE GOLDEN GLOBES
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
On February 28, the Golden Globe awards aired on NBC. Leading up to the event, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA)’s dirty laundry was also aired.
In a scathing investigation form the LA Times, it charged that the HFPA (it awards the Globes) was denying membership to accredited journalists, paying its 87 members and providing those in its ranks with access to boujie hotels, private screenings and other perks.
The Golden Globes offer accolades to both TV and film, though it’s not always the best (as they like to claim). Because of its position in the awards season, it is often perceived as the indicator of the Academy Awards. More on that later. But as the HFPA takes attacks from all sides, PROVOKR thought we’d help it out by outlining its “crimes”:
LACK OF DIVERSITY
Following the LA Times report, it was found that the HFPA has not had a Black member in at least two decades. Twenty years. This revelation led to a shallow apology from three of the highest-ranking members of the HFPA during this year’s ceremony. They stood on stage and vowed to do better. We’ll see it when we believe it.
That public apology came after the first two awards of the night went to Black, British actors: Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah and John Boyega for Small Axe. Now, it can’t be a coincidence that the first two awards went to Black actors. Perhaps the HFPA rearranged the lineup to save face.
That lack of diversity in its members, though, is often reflected in the white-centric films and TV shows that get nominated for the top categories: Best TV Series – Drama, Best TV Series – Comedy, Best Limited Series or Movie Made for TV, Best Motion Picture – Drama and BEst Motion Picture – Comedy. Just this year, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Judas and the Black Messiah and One NIght in Miami weren’t given top honors despite being Best Picture contenders. In the TV categories, Michaela Cole’s poignant series about sexual assault, I May Destroy You, didn’t even get a nomination.
That’s just criminal.
TAKING THE “PRESS” OUT OF HFPA
Most of the incidents outlined here came to light in a lawsuit filed by Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa, who has been denied from the HFPA on multiple occasions. Now, you might be thinking, “This group sounds awful. Who would want to join it?” Valid logic, but the HFPA holds invaluable press access, which would benefit people who actually write for overseas outlets.
But, get this, very few of its members hold a full- or part-time contract with foreign outlets. Crazy, right? So, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is a falsehood. It should be called the Hollywood Former Foreign Press Association.
To get around the membership criteria, the HFPA executives allow its members to write for the organization’s website. We’ll let that sink in.
ACCEPTING BRIBES
It will come as no surprise that this small group of people is easily bribed. If you want an award, it’s easier to bribe the 87 people in the HFPA versus the 9,300 eligible voters in the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences. On top of being paid $2 million dollars to serve on various committees, HFPA members get a travel allowance (that wasn’t suspended during COVID) and are put up in the nicest hotels.
This famously became the center of controversy in 1982 when actress Pia Zadora was awarded a Golden Globe for “new star of the year in a motion picture” for her performance in the critical flop Butterfly. Weeks before voting, HFPA members had been flown by Zadora’s husband, producer Meshulam Riklis, to his casino in Las Vegas. So we’ve really known the HFPA can be bought since 1982.
Nearly 30 years later, it is still happening. If you looked at the TV categories, you might have noticed that Netflix’s Emily in Paris picked up two nominations: Best TV Series — Musical or Comedy and Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series – Musical or Comedy for Lily Collins. The series is not successful by any standards. Dubbed a Sex in the City in Paris, its first season did not live up to expectations and is like the mediocre series your child guilts you into watching. So how did it get nominated?
In 2019, more than 30 HFPA members flew to France to visit the set of Emily in Paris. Paramount Network treated the group to a two-night stay at the five-star Peninsula Paris hotel, where rooms currently start at about $1,400 a night, and a news conference and lunch at the Musée des Arts Forains, a private museum filled with amusement rides dating to 1850 where the show was shooting.
“They treated us like kings and queens,” said one member of the HFPA.
That would be enough to buy my vote.
MISCATEGORIZING + CATEGORY LIMITATIONS
Even the Golden Globe categories are flawed and their choices to designate certain nominees is questionable, especially in film. We won’t go way back in history, because, quite frankly, there are too many examples just in the last 10 years.
In 2018, Jordan Peele’s horror film Get Out was nominated for Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy. No one broke out in song, so the HFPA must have thought it was a comedy. Now the only logical reason for putting it there was the fact Peele comes from the comedy world. Similarly, Ridley Scott’s The Martian was up for that same award in 2016. When he won, he jaunted up to the stage, took hold of the award and with the right dose of skepticism and shade said, “Comedy?”
Everyone has gripes with lead acting categories separated by genre, but the supporting categories are not. But the most egregious category limitation comes in Best Motion Picture — Foreign Language. First off, “foreign language” is an outdated way of categorizing it. The Academy famously changed its Best Foreign-Language Film category to Best International Feature. This year, Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari was put into the foreign-language category despite being an American production about Asian-Americans.
Minari, also a Best Picture contender, was shut out of the Best Motion Picture — Drama category because foreign language films can’t compete for the top award. Last year, that also affected Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, which went on to win Best Picture. It seems like a missed opportunity to us.
PROPAGATING “FAKE NEWS”
Let’s return to the bribes. The Golden Globes Ceremony is often just a reason to party, and the HFPA wants to be part of that. The biggest stars, nominees and winners may not be the best of that given year. (Rosamund Pike was terrific in I Care A Lot, but was she really better than Maria Bakalova in Borat: Subsequent Movie Film?)
It is rumored that the HFPA pays as much as $10,000 for celebrities to appear on the telecast, and it is alleged it promises certain people a win to guarantee the biggest names in Hollywood will show up.
PICKING THE WORST HOSTS
You know it’s bad when the organization picks hosts that end up poking fun at how worthless the Golden Globes and HFPA are. Not to mention, the hosts suck most of the time. Ricky Gervais is one of the most divisive comedians ever to grace the Golden Globes stage. The nominees are known to hate him because of his crude humor. But the HFPA insisted on bringing him back — even after making transphobic comments. Not cool.
Don’t even get us started on Jimmy Fallon and that awful opening number he did to honor La La Land.
Not even Amy Poehler and Tina Fey could save the Globes. Regarded as the best hosts in the ceremony’s history, the telecast they hosted on February 28 had a 13-year low for viewership. Ouch.
BEING AN AWFUL PRODUCTION
Even before the Zoom ceremony this year, the Golden Globes were just a recipe for disaster. Why are the tables so close together so that people can’t get to the stage? Do you really need a host if you have a voice announcing everyone? We digress.
FOR NOT MATTERING AT ALL
Now, we’ve come to the final crime the HFPA has to attest to: for not mattering at all.
As reported, the HFPA is a trade nonprofit, which means its sole purpose is to further the industry its in and break boundaries. It’s hard to do that when you’re a meme.
No one takes the Globes seriously. Its 87 members aren’t part of any guilds that vote for the Oscars or guild nominations. They have no influence on who gets nominated for Oscars. They’re pointless, to put it bluntly.
Working journalists have discussed the need for a different awards ceremony to take that coveted timeslot. PROVOKR thinks the Indie Spirit Awards would be a more suitable fit for a pre-Oscars award show. The ceremony often draws social media buzz and the hosts are much more fun (looking at you, Aubrey Plaza). And it would put more indie films at the center of the Oscar conversation.
Whether or not this happens, one source made it clear to the LA Times that the Golden Globes could be dismantled with the snap of the fingers (sounds like a job for Thanos): “If the studios wanted to kill the Golden Globes, they could overnight. But everybody likes getting an award, and with the money and everything that comes with a show of that magnitude, it’s like a snowball you can’t stop.”
