The Golden Globes are returning for their 80th anniversary on Wednesday, hoping to shake off their tarnished image of corruption and racism.
The awards were all but brought down by a 2021 investigation by the Los Angeles Times that found the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which conducts the awards, had no members who were black, along with accusations of self-dealing.
In 2022, the US TV channel NBC refused to air it.
But this year it’s back on NBC with Helen Hoehne, president of the HFPA, promising it will be “Hollywood’s Party of the Year”.
Nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Brendan Fraser (The Whale) has said it would be hypocritical for him to participate in the event, having publicly accused former HFPA president Phil Berk of a sexual assault that sent the actor into a personal and professional tailspin. (Berk denied the allegations, claiming he was just joking.)
Don’t expect three-time Globe-winning superstar Tom Cruise to show up either: When scandals tainted the organization, he gave back his trophies. So, even though Top Gun: Maverick is nominated for Best Picture, Tom’s performance was summarily snubbed. Meow.
The group of members who determined who won the once-coveted awards consisted of 87 journalists … none of whom were black. So in the past 20 months, after hiring a “chief diversity officer” nearly two dozen new members, including African-Americans and Asian-Americans, were added.
They also banned members from receiving gifts, which as everyone in show business knows, were lavished upon them by film and TV studios, publicity agents, and the stars themselves. I often heard jet-setting HFPA members at press junkets gushing about all the swag they received – a case of frozen steaks from George Clooney; an extravagant gift basket from Angelina Jolie; a party invitation from Nicole Kidman. There’s not much bragging about these days.
When the nominations were announced on December 12, Hollywood was surprised by their lack of diversity. Everything Everywhere All At Once scored well for Asian Americans, but it was otherwise a mixed bag, especially in the directing and writing categories.
For all the buzz, there was no sign of Till or Emancipation. Perhaps that’s why two days later, they made a big announcement that past Globe winner Eddie Murphy would receive the distinguished Cecil B. DeMille Award.
