The Golden Globes Are Addressing Their History of Inclusion Issues
The Golden Globes and HFPA have historically not given recognition to diverse artists in the past years, along with no single voting Black member on the 90 person organization.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “Last July, in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, then HFPA President Lorenzo Soria brought a motion to vote on hiring Pam Jackson, a former VP at 20th Century Fox, as the consultant. HFPA members voted not to hire a diversity consultant.”
Just in: HFPA, the organization behind the #GoldenGlobes, failed to address diversity issues last summer https://t.co/f2imabyfTw
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 3, 2021
The HFPA declined to comment on the July meeting and vote. But in a new interview, an Australian HFPA member claimed that for years the lack of Black members “was not really anything we focused on.”
Before the 2021 awards show began, the hashtag #TIMESUPGlobes was trending on Twitter due to the Golden Globes voting panel not featuring a single Black member. Many celebrities, including Jennifer Aniston, Ellen Pompeo, Kerry Washington, America Ferrera, and Laura Dern, were among the stars to use the hashtag to call out lack of diversity.
A cosmetic fix isn’t enough. #TimesUpGlobes #TIMESUP pic.twitter.com/9iwnVSNHOp
— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) February 27, 2021
It was evident that the Black talent was highly underrepresented this awards season when many Black-led films with lots of buzz were not nominated for best picture drama. These films included Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, One Night in Miami, Judas and the Black Messiah, and Da 5 Bloods. Another notable snub is Michaela’s Coel’s for her work, performance, and production of the HBO Max drama series I May Destroy You. This snub has been highly controversial because Emily In Paris was nominated while Coel’s artistry was completely disregarded as a whole.
While HFPA has made public proclamations saying it plans to address & “immediately work to implement an action plan to achieve these goals as soon as possible” —in a statement to The Times last week— the vote indicates that the org was aware of the problem https://t.co/gzmdoX0dQA
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 3, 2021
An LA Times investigation is what prompted the awareness of lack of diversity amongst the Globes panel. Since the unearthing, the Globes has taken accountability and the promise to do better. According to the LA Times, “In a statement to the Times on Thursday, an HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press) representative said, “We are fully committed to ensuring our membership is reflective of the communities around the world who love film, tv and the artists inspiring and educating them”. They went on to say that they understand the need for more BIPOC representation in the industry and are working on a plan to make this happen.
We can now only hope the light shone on this scandal will birth a more diverse, collective, unionized Golden Globes panel for the future.
Glitter Magazine Writer | Tweet me @gabbigabehart
