NBC won't air the Golden Globes in 2022
NBC to the HFPA: Until you clean up your house, we're not airing your Golden Globes.
That was the decision made Monday by the broadcast network, amid ongoing complaints about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, its membership, and the way it selects winners year after year.
"We continue to believe that the HFPA is committed to meaningful reform," NBC said in a statement. "However, change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the HFPA needs time to do it right. As such, NBC will not air the 2022 Golden Globes. Assuming the organization executes on its plan, we are hopeful we will be in a position to air the show in January 2023."
Apparently, it wasn't enough that the HFPA recently approved a slate of changes that was supposed to address months of controversy over the lack of diversity in its ranks. The planned reforms include increasing the HFPA's membership by 50 percent over the next 18 months; hiring a diversity, equality, and inclusion strategist; and establishing a committee of "racially and ethnically diverse members who will advise the Board and oversee critical organizational reform."
Actors and publicists, along with the advocacy group Time's Up, have said that will barely scratch the surface. In a statement provided to EW, Scarlett Johansson recalled facing "sexist questions and remarks" from HFPA members "that bordered on sexual harassment." Johansson's Avengers costar Mark Ruffalo wrote a social media post that said, "now is the time to step up and right the wrongs of the past. Honestly, as a recent winner of a Golden Globe, I cannot feel proud or happy about being a recipient of this award." Mission: Impossible star Tom Cruise returned his three Golden Globe statuettes in protest.
And Time's Up called the supposed fixes "window-dressing platitudes." The group's president and chief executive, Tina Tchen, said in a statement, "Sadly, the list of 'reforms' adopted yesterday, and endorsed by NBCUniversal and Dick Clark Productions, are sorely lacking and hardly transformational. Instead, these measures ensure that the current membership of the HFPA will remain in the majority and that the next Golden Globes will be decided with the same fundamental problems that have existed for years."
The HFPA has been under fire ever since the Los Angeles Times wrote an exposé in February detailing alleged ethical conflicts and other misconduct. The organization said it would try to be more transparent, and even brought out three members during the 2021 telecast to insist the group would welcome Black voices into its voting base.
On Monday afternoon, the HFPA unveiled a timeline for its reform plans and said in a statement, "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. 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."
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