Variety Journalists Resign From Hollywood Critics Association After Member Gets Booted

Brian Welk
·5 min read
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A handful of Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) members, including Variety’s senior awards editor Clayton Davis and two other Variety journalists, have resigned from the fledgling awards body over the expulsion of a critic who raised questions about the group’s financial status, fundraising distribution and operations — then took her complaints public.

An individual with knowledge of the resignations told TheWrap that Davis along with senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay and red carpet reporter Angelique Jackson all resigned from the HCA. Kristen Lopez, a TV editor with IndieWire, also announced on Twitter that she resigned from the group.

The dustup has created a rift both within and without the HCA, which evolved from the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society. The org, now with more than 100 members, was created in 2016 as a place to include bloggers, YouTubers and other multimedia journalists not affiliated with mainstream outlets — a group that’s organically more diverse than traditional critics’ circles.

In a statement Wednesday, the HCA said that now-former member Shannon McGrew, founder of horror fanzine Nightmarish Conjurings, had “expressed resentment towards the association and its leadership” and demanded answers to a series of questions the member posted on the HCA’s private Facebook page. McGrew raised concerns about fundraising and dues appropriations, the group’s nonprofit status and its practice of charging for participation in certain awards shows (common in Hollywood awards circles).

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The statement says McGrew was not satisfied with the responses, and immediately began complaining stridently on social media. The HCA sent a cease-and-desist letter on August 19 before ultimately expelling her.

“The HCA leadership worked diligently to diffuse the tension and appease the individual,” the HCA wrote. “We provided more information and evidence to disprove insinuations of financial and awards-related improprieties, while also creating a publicly accessible FAQ page with input from all members.”

At one point, another member began arguing with McGrew in the Facebook group, escalating tensions both there and online.

“We also offered different avenues for direct communication, but every good faith attempt was met with insults, mockery and increasingly more derogatory, defamatory, and disturbingly threatening posts,” the HCA continued in its statement. “Shielding these baseless actions under the premise of ‘just asking questions in the name of transparency,’ the now former member imposed an aggressive smear campaign seemingly aimed at destroying the organization.”

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The HCA’s statement did not name McGrew, who posted online that the statement sent out by the HCA was initially an internal letter. However, she said it removed mention of “the other person involved who was harassing/bullying me.”

“At this point this is a blatant act of retaliation for speaking out,” McGrew wrote. McGrew had no comment for this piece.

“I’m team @shannon_mcgrew on this one. Whatever the hell is going on over at the HCA sounds more like the kind of drama I expect from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,” critic Eric Vespe wrote in a tweet. “Sending legal threats to a former member because they made you look bad ain’t a good look, y’all.”

The Hollywood Critics Association held its second annual HCA TV Awards on Aug. 14. The group also earlier this year held its fifth annual HCA Film Awards. The group is a non-profit organization in California, but as stated on its website, the HCA on the federal level is not a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation nor is it tax-exempt and that its non-profit status is still pending as of Aug. 22.

The HCA did get its share of support from members, however, who highlighted its inclusive founding and subsequent diversity: