Amid outcry, NBC says it won’t air Golden Globes in 2022

By Associated Press
NEW YORK: Amid rising strain on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association from studios, stars and huge swaths of the movie business, NBC mentioned Monday that won’t air the Golden Globes in 2022, placing unsure the viability of one among Hollywood’s oldest and most-watched award reveals.

Criticism of the HFPA, which places on the Globes and has been denounced for an absence of variety and for moral impropriates, reached such a pitch Monday that Tom Cruise returned his three Globes to the press affiliation’s headquarters, based on an individual who was granted anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly concerning the resolution.

In a press release, NBC mentioned it believes the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — which is dealing with attainable boycotts over the inclusiveness of its membership from Netflix, Warner Bros. and lots of Hollywood actors — is dedicated to reform. But change cannot come shortly sufficient for subsequent yr’s Globes.

“However, change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the HFPA needs time to do it right,” the community mentioned. “As such, NBC won’t air the 2022 Golden Globes. Assuming the group executes on its plan, we’re hopeful we might be ready to air the present in January 2023.”

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, lengthy a topic of ridicule from even its personal telecast hosts, has come below fireplace following an investigative report in February by The Los Angeles Times that recounted the group’s questionable file on variety — together with, presently, no Black members amongst its roughly 90 voting members.

The press affiliation has pledged to totally reform, and final week accredited a plan to, amongst different issues, variety its membership. But that hasn’t stopped a number of studios from threatening to drag out of the Globes.

Last week, Netflix and Amazon Studios each mentioned they’d lower ties with the HFPA if it did not swiftly enact extra drastic adjustments.

“We don’t imagine these proposed new insurance policies — notably across the measurement and velocity of membership development — will sort out the HFPA’s systemic variety and inclusion challenges, or the dearth of clear requirements for the way your members ought to function,” Netflix co-chief govt Ted Sarandos wrote in a letter to the group.

In a letter despatched Sunday and shared with reporters Monday, WarnerMedia mentioned it will stop holding screenings and different occasions for the HFPA till it made extra substantial adjustments.

“For far too long, demands for perks, special favors and unprofessional requests have been made to our teams and to others across the industry,” WarnerMedia executives mentioned in a letter. “We regret that as an industry, we have complained, but largely tolerated this behavior until now.”

The outcry towards the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has gathered pressure during the last six weeks, as a movie business the place racial and gender inequity lengthy went unchecked has grown newly illiberal of the methods of the group, made up of largely little-known journalists who revenue significantly from the annual telecast.

Increasingly, Hollywood has deserted the HFPA. A gaggle of 100 leisure publicity corporations has mentioned they’d urge their purchasers to skip HFPA features. Mark Ruffalo, a winner this yr, just lately mentioned he “cannot feel proud or happy about being a recipient of this award” any longer. Scarlett Johansson said HFPA press conferences for her “meant facing sexist questions and remarks by certain HFPA members that bordered on sexual harassment.”

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association did not deal with the 2022 telecast in responding to NBC’s resolution, however board members of the group laid out its schedule of reforms — finally resulting in a revamped membership and board by early August, in addition to quite a few different coverage adjustments.

“Regardless of the next air date of the Golden Globes, implementing transformational changes as quickly – and as thoughtfully – as possible remains the top priority for our organization,” the group mentioned in a press release. “We invite our partners in the industry to the table to work with us on the systemic reform that is long overdue, both in our organization as well as within the industry at large.”

Last week, the press affiliation ratified plans so as to add no less than 20 new members this yr “with a specific focus on recruiting Black members” and with a objective of accelerating membership 50% over the subsequent 18 months.

For some, that timeline wasn’t aggressive sufficient. In the subsequent few months, a number of potential awards contending movies are set to premiere at movie festivals and elsewhere. Tina Tchen, president and chief govt of Time’s Up, referred to as the HFPA’s pledges “window-dressing platitudes.”

“These measures ensure that the current membership of the HFPA will remain in the majority and that the next Golden Globe Awards will be decided with the same fundamental problems that have existed for years,” mentioned Tchen.

The Globes, produced by dick clark productions, have suffered rankings drops in recent times however nonetheless rank among the many most-watched award reveals — normally third to the Oscars and the Grammys. The 78th Golden Globes, held Feb. 28, attracted 6.9 million viewers, a 63% drop from the 2020 telecast, watched by 18.4 million.