Could this explain some of the terrible misfortunes of this year?
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group of people who nominate and select the winners of the annual Golden Globes, has been on fire for lack of diversity after a report found zero black members currently in the organization.
The Los Angeles Times took a deep dive into the “insular, unbelievably powerful group” and the mysterious identities of its 87 members, who often maintain “low profiles.” The revealing report found that while the group has some colored members, there are no black members.
The HFPA confirmed to the media that there are in fact no black members, but stated that this is an issue that “they are committed to addressing.” However, the group did not draw up any action plan.
When nominations were released in early February, there were notable setbacks, including widely acclaimed films such as Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” and Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah” for best honors. the big screen. The same goes for the entire cast of HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” on the small screen: it was nominated for best television drama, but the entire cast was overlooked to nod.
Similar omissions have previously provoked massive shouts from the public, specifically in 2015, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars, was criticized for lack of diversity. The #OscarsSoWhite social media campaign forced the organization to make moves to achieve more inclusion, which it has since been working to address.
However, the HFPA pointed out members of the group for not designating projects critically acclaimed (and adored by fans).
“We do not control the individual votes of our members,” HFPA said in a statement to the LA Times. “We seek to build a cultural understanding through film and television and recognize how the power of creative narrative can educate people around the world on issues of race, representation, and orientation.”
As for the true identities of the dodgy group, the people involved do not appear on the public list on the association’s website. A “longtime publicist” told the media that some are international journalists, but “many work with outlets I’ve never heard of.”
Still, the rep said, “We give them incredible access. We are forced to do it because of who they are.”
Still, some are well known, including Lisa Lu, who played her grandmother in “Crazy Rich Asians” in 2018. Other members include former beauty queen Margaret Gardiner, former Russian bodybuilder Alexander Nevsky, who is now an actor with roles in “low-budget action movies,” and Noel de Souza, an Indian journalist who also played Mahatma Gandhi in a “Star Trek”: “Voyager Episode.”
The lack of diversity of the Golden Globes group is not the only controversy that arises behind the scenes before the program, which will air on February 28th.
Another explosive report claimed that HFPA received a five-star trip to France to visit the set of “Emily in Paris,” which garnered a nomination that many critics and fans considered a shock. Even a writer on the Netflix show wrote a piece claiming that other great works, including “I Can Destroy You,” deserved the nomination.