The Golden Globes awards have been sold by the group that runs it, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – ending years of controversy over bias among judges, the racial makeup of the awarding body, and declining ratings.
The HFPA, which has 300 members, will now close.
The awards will continue, but will be managed by a private company, Dick Clark Productions, and Eldridge, a Connecticut-based holding company.
This year’s Golden Globes, on January 10, saw record-low viewing figures of just 5.36 million.
That number is down 23 percent from 2021, which is the last time the Golden Globes aired, when the ratings were at just 6.9 million – a steep dip from 18 million in 2020.
Helen Hoehne, president of the HFPA, said their members had approved the sale of the awards.
‘We are excited to close on this much anticipated member-approved transaction and transition from a member-led organization to a commercial enterprise,’ she said.
The sale comes after years of turmoil, which was mocked by this year’s host, comedian Jerrod Carmichael.
His Golden Globes opening monologue made members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association ‘uncomfortable’ and sucked the ‘fun’ out of the Golden Globes by focusing show’s complicated history with minorities, and recent controversy that caused the show not to air last year.
He half-way joked about his own role hosting the show as a comedian who had been selected because of his race to become ‘the black face of an embattled white organization.’
‘The whole thing was so awkward and uncomfortable,’ a source told The Hollywood Reporter.
‘The show needs to be fun, and it didn’t feel fun,’ due to the tone and subject matter of Carmichael’s monologue, said another.
Comedian Jerrod Carmichael delivered an at times awkward monologue about the Golden Globes’ recent diversity scandal and how he was chosen for the gig because of his race
He added that he had been asked several times to meet with HFPA president Helen Hoehne after accepting the gig, which he also joked about being paid a whopping $500,000 to do.
Carmichael said that he felt the meeting with Hoehne would be a ‘trap.’
The Hollywood Reporter claimed Hoehne was taken aback and ‘shaken’ at being name checked so prominently at the top of the show but a source with ties to HFPA told DailyMail.com denied that she was ‘upset’,
‘Those who were actually with Hoehne during the monologue, seated at her table, deny any absurd claim that she was emotional over what was said on stage,’ the source said.
Another source told the Hollywood Reporter that the entire incident was made up and that it is ‘disappointing and perplexing that people would take this approach to try to hurt Helen.’
‘It doesn’t accurately reflect the resilient, positive and effective leader that she is.’
Last Tuesday evening, Carmichael kicked off the 80th annual Golden Globes by telling the audience he had only been invited to host ‘because I’m black.’
‘This show, the Golden Globe Awards, did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – which I won’t say were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died [in 2020]. So, do with that information what you will,’ he said.
Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Helen Hoehne last Tuesday night at the 80th annual Golden Globe awards and the first to be broadcast since 2021
!['This show, the Golden Globe Awards, did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association...didn¿t have a single Black member until George Floyd died [in 2020]. So, do with that information what you will,' said Carmichael during his monologue](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/06/12/22/66757589-11654527-_This_show_the_Golden_Globe_Awards_did_not_air_last_year_because-a-3_1686605759605.jpg)
‘This show, the Golden Globe Awards, did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association…didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died [in 2020]. So, do with that information what you will,’ said Carmichael during his monologue
The Globes’ fall from grace arrived slowly and then all at once, when last year, mired in allegations of sexual misconduct among its leadership and accusations of an endemic culture of gifts for gongs, the show was ripped off the air.
In 2018, actor Brendan Fraser came forward to claim that former HFPA president Philip Berk, 88, assaulted him at an HFPA luncheon in 2003 by grabbing his buttocks. Berk called the story ‘a total fabrication.’
In 2019 the nonprofit was slammed for failing to nominate any female directors for awards despite the critical and box office success of Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women.
In 2020 a Norwegian journalist sued the HFPA for a ‘culture of corruption’ with members accepting ‘thousands of dollars in emoluments’ from the same studios to which they awarded gongs. A federal judge dismissed the case ruling the plaintiff Kjersti Flaa did not suffer damages.
Last year the LA Times revealed none of the HFPA’s 87 members were black, prompting it to recruit 21 new members. Six of the new recruits are black, 10 are women, six are Latinx, five are Asian and four are Middle Eastern or North African, according to the Globes.
Berk was also back in the spotlight in April, expelled from the organization for allegedly calling Black Lives Matter a ‘racist hate movement’ in an email.
The Globes’ fresh take on political correctness, however, may not ultimately be working in the award show’s favor.
What was formerly considered to be the industry’s most fun night during award season, attracted a measly 5.3million viewers – a 23 percent decline from its 2021 viewership figure.
