To grasp why NBC simply canceled its broadcast of the 2022 Golden Globes, you first have to appreciate that nobody ever actually understood the Golden Globes within the first place. Introduced by the shadowy Hollywood Overseas Press Affiliation since 1944, the annual ceremony has a protracted historical past of controversy and questionable practices. In truth, this isn’t even the primary time NBC pulled the plug on the ceremony (the broadcaster boycotted the ceremony from 1968 till 1974).
The group’s established order was not precisely a match for at this time’s values of variety and transparency, and the ultimate straw for a lot of Hollywood got here in February when it was revealed the group didn’t embody a single Black member. They’ve promised to alter, however few outdoors the group have seen any critical proof of that but. Netflix, Amazon, and Warner Media introduced that they’d boycott the ceremony, and now NBC has gone forward and pulled the plug on the published for 2022.
“We proceed to consider that the HFPA is dedicated to significant reform,” learn an NBC assertion. “Nevertheless, change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we really feel strongly that the HFPA wants time to do it proper. As such, NBC won’t air the 2022 Golden Globes. Assuming the group executes on its plan, we’re hopeful we might be able to air the present in January 2023.”
What’s the Hollywood Overseas Press Company, anyway?
The HFPA began again in 1943 with a fairly legit purpose. Journalists in Los Angeles overlaying present enterprise for overseas shops felt they weren’t getting the sort of entry and knowledge their American friends had been, so that they certain collectively. Hollywood being the city of favors and egos it’s, the HFPA began giving out awards in 1944 to up its profile.
Though it might take years for the ceremony to turn out to be an awards circuit mainstay, it established two traditions straight off the bat. It gave its first awards on January 1st, months earlier than the Oscars. It additionally went all in that yr on a film known as The Track of Bernadette, which obtained trophies for Finest Image, Finest Actress, and Finest Director. Two months later, the large winner on the Oscars can be just a little film known as Casablanca. The Golden Globes had utterly ignored it. The Globes have all the time made some odd decisions.
This isn’t the primary time NBC and the Globes have clashed
NBC was the primary nationwide broadcaster to air the Oscars again within the day, however misplaced the ceremony to ABC in 1960. In 1965, they determined to start out airing the Golden Globes nationwide as an alternative. It went nicely for a couple of years till the FCC acquired concerned. There have been allegations that the HFPA would solely award those that confirmed up with trophies, and the Feds felt viewers had been being misled. So NBC dropped the ceremony after 1968. It wasn’t broadcast in any respect for 4 years after which floated across the dial, together with stints on CBS, TBS, and in syndication. NBC didn’t begin broadcasting the ceremony frequently once more till 1996—a transfer which ended up saving the Globes from close to irrelevance. Whereas NBC broadcasts the Emmys each 4 years in a novel broadcast-sharing plan among the many networks, the Globes, in any other case, had been NBC’s largest awards present broadcast of the yr (ABC at the moment has the Oscars, whereas CBS airs the Grammys).
What’s gone incorrect now?
Even after the FCC scandal, the Globes’ historical past has lengthy been intertwined with scandal and allegations of shady practices. It’s been suspected that members had been simply influenced by lavish press journeys, ensures of entry, or particular occasions (see: the 1982 Pia Zadora scandal, the 2011 The Vacationer scandal, or, extra just lately, head-scratching over Emily in Paris’s nominations). Hosts of the ceremony have even cracked jokes about it. The group’s membership has additionally all the time been secretive, and its guidelines about who, precisely, might be thought of “press” are lax. For years, the Golden Globes have been a home of playing cards threatened by the breeze of change, however two main occurrences led to the most recent spherical of questioning.
1) The Globes snubbed three Asian-American-led movies, Parasite, Minari, and The Farewell, from Finest Image nods, citing particular guidelines. However nobody actually believed that, as a result of nobody actually believes that the Globes really honors its personal guidelines within the first place.
2) It was revealed in February that not a single member of the HFPA was Black.
What modifications are being demanded?
Over the weekend, the HFPA introduced that it deliberate to double its membership over the following 18 months, with “at the very least 20” new members being added this yr. It additionally expanded membership eligibility necessities to incorporate journalists based mostly outdoors of Southern California and proposed a brand new code of conduct that will forbid the acceptance of presents and add extra guidelines to what sort of promotional journeys members can settle for.
Nonetheless, the proposed reforms didn’t go far or quick sufficient for a lot of advocates.
“The HFPA’s record of suggestions largely comprises no specifics, no commitments to actual accountability or change, and no actual timeline to implement these modifications,” learn an announcement from Time’s Up, in accordance with The Hollywood Reporter. (Time’s Up wished the HFPA to double its membership by the following ceremony, thus diluting the institutional energy of its current members.) “The HFPA’s proposed September 1 deadline for some—however not all—reforms comes nicely after the following award cycle may have began.”
“Much more putting is the whole silence from the HFPA about reforms to the deeply troubled nominations and awards course of,” continued the assertion. “This consists of the absence of any dedication to make sure that the Golden Globe awards and classes are free from discriminatory standards, that the observe of unprofessional, unique press conferences will finish, or that voting members will carry out the fundamental operate of watching the nominated tasks.”
