The TLDR: One of the world’s most famous award ceremonies has fallen into disgrace almost overnight⁠—with top actors and studios cutting their ties to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the organisation that doles out the awards. We look at the collapse of what was once described as ‘Hollywood’s Party of the Year’. 

Researched by: Sara Varghese and Ragini Puri

About those Golden Globes...

The annual awards ceremony was launched in 1944 as an informal lunch. It has since turned into a boozy, chilled out show⁠—the third most-watched after the Oscars and the Grammys. Unlike the Academy, the HFPA honours both TV series and movies⁠—which makes them more relatable, as well. Unlike the stodgy and self-important Oscars, the Golden Globes are just more fun⁠—and often mocked by those who participate in it. As Ricky Gervais once put it, “The Golden Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton⁠—bit louder, bit trashier, bit drunker and more easily bought, allegedly. Nothing’s been proved.”

About the HFPA: It is a small group made up of 87 overseas journalists⁠—and obscure small-time actors⁠—who live in Southern California⁠—but the membership list is kept a secret. Most of them are not big names or widely published. And oddly there is no connection between their own nationality and which country they represent. Example: three Americans represented China, Mexico and Germany.

As the New York Times sums it up, the HFPA “has been widely viewed as colorful, generally harmless, perhaps venal and not necessarily journalistically productive.” While the association’s rules require members to attend 25 press conferences a year, most of these cushy travel gigs rarely result in news stories. Also, one prominent member said of her job: “It’s unbelievably hard work...We must see at least 300 U.S. films every year.”

Point to note: ‘Doddering’ or not, the Golden Globes are carefully timed just before the Oscars⁠—which makes the HFPA vital to any studio hoping to gain momentum for a big win at the big show. So members are no less assiduously wooed than members of the Academy⁠—and wield enormous clout in Hollywood. Its big turning point: When NBC bought broadcast rights in 1996⁠—and the show soon turned into an advertising cash cow.

Irony alert: The HFPA originally started as an attempt by foreign journalists to band together to get better access to stars and studios in a town that mostly ignored them. It’s motto: “Unity Without Discrimination of Religion or Race.”

Red flag #1: Racism

Much of the Globes’ woes stem from a single issue: a stunning lack of diversity. Just before the 2021 ceremony, an LA Times investigation uncovered a startling fact: The HFPA doesn’t have a single Black member. That remarkable absence raised new questions about members’ often bizarre voting behaviour⁠—where high quality talent is often glaringly overlooked. 

For example, this year’s best movies nominees did not include ‘Da 5 Bloods’, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ or ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’⁠—which was shocking, and became fodder for a #TimesUpGlobes campaign. And it became a running joke among stars on stage during the show. Co-host Tina Fey—describing ‘Soul’ which is about a black musician who is reincarnated as a cat—scathingly said, “The HFPA really responded to this movie because they do have five cat members.”

Red flag #2: Corruption

Another reason for the members’ often strange picks: a serious weakness for freebies. Late last year, Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa filed a lawsuit against HFPA alleging that members accepted “thousands of dollars in emoluments” from the very same studios, networks and celebrities they conferred trophies upon, all of it hidden behind a “code of silence.” As the LA Times notes:

“Its members… are routinely granted exclusive access to Hollywood power players, invited to junkets in exotic locales, put up in five-star hotels and, as Globes nominations near, lavished with gifts, dinners and star-studded parties.”

One such junket: In September 2019, dozens of association members flew to Paris to visit the ‘Emily in Paris’ set and were put up by the Paramount Network at the five-star Peninsula hotel. The result: the series got two Golden Globe nominations, while the critically acclaimed ‘I May Destroy You’ got none—which even shocked the writer of ‘Emily in Paris’. 

Not the first time: In 1982, Pia Zadora made the wrong kind of news for winning best actress in a movie for her role—described by critics as “Brigitte Bardot recycled through a kitchen compactor”—in a “trashy incest drama” called Butterfly. One possible reason: Zadora’s then-husband, Israeli billionaire Meshulam Riklis flew the members out for a lavish private screening in Las Vegas.

Point to note: This is a well-entrenched pattern: “T[here is a widespread perception that members can still be wheedled and swayed with special attention and access to A-list stars with whom they can take selfies to post on Instagram.”

Red flag #3: Overpaid fat cats 

A cartel: The HFPA is notoriously unwilling to let in new members—even if one of its existing members is in his 90s and mostly deaf. And its numbers have not grown very much over the years. Flaa sued when she was thrice denied admission, alleging that the HFPA operated like a “cartel”: “Members are territorial and loath to welcome competitors, she alleged, lobbying each other to accept or deny entry to new applicants, with little consideration for journalistic merits.”

A ‘retirement cushion’: During the last financial year, the tax-exempt nonprofit paid more than $3 million in salaries and other compensation—at least $2 million of which ended up in the members’ pockets. Many were earning up to $100,000 a month just for serving on a committee. The tax filing also showed $1.3 million in travel costs for that year. And the compensation has doubled over the past three years. According to the New York Times: “Some members said the number of paying committees has exploded in recent years, with members jockeying to nab multiple positions and loyalty rewarded with committee appointments.

As a result, the HFPA has become “a private retirement cushion for older members and a reliable income stream for nearly everyone else.”

The big fallout

While the HFPA hastily rolled out a detailed plan for reforms earlier this month, it has been deemed too little, too late. Once again, the HFPA’s fate has been sealed by NBC which announced that it will not air the Golden Globes in 2022. The loss of revenue to the association: $60 million a year for broadcast rights. 

NBC’s decision was triggered not by altruism but by the A-list stars who have spoken up against the Golden Globes. As one network executive put it, “The talent wasn’t going to participate. There’s no show if there’s no talent.” That talent includes the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo and even Tom Cruise—who has returned his three Golden Globes. Also saying no: the big studios like Warner Media, Netflix and Amazon Studios who have all cut ties with the HFPA until “meaningful changes” are made.

The bottomline: You can’t fool all the people all the time. 

Reading list

Los Angeles Times did two big investigations—on HFPA’s membership and internal workings—that triggered its downfall. Vanity Fair looks at why Hollywood has long tired of the antics of the members—and was essentially looking for a reason to cancel them. New York Times has more on how the members make their money. Cnet does an excellent job of bringing all the threads together. Also in the New York Times (via Indian Express): How the HFPA became a power player in Hollywood.