How the HFPA faced its controversies during Golden Globes broadcast
It was inevitable that officials from the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. would somehow broach the controversies that caused the Golden Globes to be yanked from the air last year. The only real question was how.
In his opening monologue, host Jerrod Carmichael addressed any elephants in the room head-on.
After saying, “I’ll catch everyone in the room up,” he went on to explain how he was asked to take the hosting job by noting, “One minute you’re making mint tea at home, the next you’re invited to be the Black face of an embattled white organization. Life really comes at you fast.”
After a Times investigation led to a revolt of Hollywood publicists, NBC pulled last year’s Golden Globes awards telecast. Here’s how they made their way back for Tuesday’s telecast.
As the evening wore on and the show was pressed for time, it appeared that perhaps the HFPA would not directly acknowledge their internal issues during the NBC broadcast.
Then, with only two awards left in the ceremony, HFPA President Helen Hoehne took the stage to speak.
“We’re grateful to have the support of the industry to help us celebrate our 80th anniversary. This has been a year of momentous change for our organization. We’re proud of the work we’ve done, the progress we’ve made and the journey we’re on,” Hoehne said in a speech that lasted just under a minute.
“We commit to strengthening our partnership with Hollywood and with the worldwide fans who celebrate, like we do, the best in film and television,” Hoehne added. “We will continue to support groups that amplify a variety of voices and continue to add representation to our organization from around the world as we did this past year.”
‘The Fabelmans’ and ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ score top awards, but the big winner might be the Hollywood Foreign Press as it tries to win back some relevance.
At the last televised Globes ceremony in February 2021, in the immediate fallout from The Times’ initial reporting on the HFPA, less than 45 seconds were dedicated to addressing the controversies that would upend the organization as three officers from the group took to the stage.
Among those remarks, Hoehne, then vice president of the HFPA, said, “Tonight, while we celebrate the work of artists from around the globe, we recognize we have our own work to do.”
After yanking the broadcast last year, NBC in September agreed to bring the show back after the group embarked on a series of reforms in an effort to salvage its once high-profile awards show and get back into Hollywood’s good graces.
In the runup to Tuesday night’s ceremony, actor Brendan Fraser, a nominee for his performance in the movie “The Whale,” was the highest profile star to publicly state he would not attend the ceremony, following Fraser’s allegation that former HFPA President Phil Berk sexually assaulted him at a luncheon in 2003. Berk denied the claim and has described the incident as a joke.
Among the celebs who were at the ceremony, some acknowledged they had thought twice about whether to attend. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” filmmaker Ryan Coogler tweeted, “It crossed my mind… We decided to come out and support Angela [Bassett],” who would win for her supporting performance in the film.
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