After LA Times investigation, NBC says it won’t air Golden Globes in 2022
With controversy engulfing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and major Hollywood players backing away from the embattled organization, NBC announced Monday that it will not air the Golden Globe Awards in 2022.
“We continue to believe that the HFPA is committed to meaningful reform,” the network, which has aired the awards show since 1996, 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.”
The decision comes as influential studios continued to back away from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, with WarnerMedia joining Netflix and Amazon Studios in cutting ties with the organization until sweeping reforms are enacted.
In a letter sent Sunday to HFPA President Ali Sar, top WarnerMedia executives said the company is putting all activities with the organization on hold, suggesting that its proposed reforms – designed to address a number of issues raised in a Feb. 21 Los Angeles Times investigation – are inadequate both in scope and pace.
With the move, Warner Bros. became the first major studio to distance itself from the HFPA, deepening a crisis for the organization that is threatening both its very existence and the awards show that it has put on for nearly 80 years.
“While we commend the HFPA membership’s approval of the plan to move towards radical reform, we don’t believe the plan goes far enough in addressing the [breadth] of our concerns, nor does your timeline capture the immediate need by which these issues should be addressed,” the company said in its letter. “WarnerMedia Studios and Networks will continue to refrain from direct engagement with the HFPA, including sanctioned press conferences and invitations to cover other industry events with talent, until these changes are implemented. This includes work with HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, Warner Bros. Television, TNT and TBS.”
With movie theaters beginning to reopen, Warner Bros. has a number of potential awards contenders set for release this year, including the sci-fi epic “Dune,” while HBO is a perennial awards powerhouse, having earned seven Globes nominations this year. (In what was widely seen as a snub, the HFPA did not nominate the network’s acclaimed limited series “I Will Destroy You.”)
In its letter to the group, WarnerMedia urged the HFPA to move more quickly to address the lack of Black members in the group, suggesting that its proposed 18-month timetable to add 50% more members will not sufficiently alter the makeup in time for the next two years’ Globes ceremonies.
“The currently planned 18-month timeline runs through the 2023 Golden Globes, which means the same voting body will be impacting the next two nomination and voting cycles,” the letter read. “The HFPA cannot accurately reflect the best of our industry until your membership expands to reflect more of the social, cultural and ethnic diversity that exists in the stories we tell and the creators with whom we work.”
Echoing criticisms from Time’s Up and a coalition of publicists that has boycotted the group, as well as blistering statements issued in recent days by A-listers Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo, WarnerMedia blasted the journalists’ association for too often neglecting Black-led projects and for its members asking what the letter called “racially insensitive, sexist and homophobic questions” in its press conferences.
In a notable admission of the role the industry has played in empowering and enabling the HFPA over the years, the letter went on, “For far too long, demands for perks, special favors and unprofessional requests have been made to our teams and to others across the industry. We regret that as an industry, we have complained, but largely tolerated this behavior until now.”
The HFPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did NBC, which airs the Globes and has thus far publicly backed the group’s plans for reform.
The full WarnerMedia letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, is below:
Dear Ali,
As an organization, WarnerMedia is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion as moral and business imperatives, and we strive to be a force for good in our communities. As an industry, together with other production companies, studios, networks, guilds, unions and talent agencies, we all have a responsibility to ensure that our workforce, content and creative partners reflect the diversity of our society and the world around us. This also extends to the organizations with which we do business.
While we commend the HFPA membership’s approval of the plan to move towards radical reform, we don’t believe the plan goes far enough in addressing the breath of our concerns, nor does your timeline capture the immediate need by which these issues should be addressed. WarnerMedia Studios and Networks will continue to refrain from direct engagement with the HFPA, including sanctioned press conferences and invitations to cover other industry events with talent, until these changes are implemented. This includes work with HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, Warner Bros. Television, TNT and TBS.
The work of ensuring equity and inclusion is never finished and something we all must work together to achieve. We understand the challenges ahead for you, as we work towards diversifying our own executive and employee ranks. However, we call upon you to move with greater urgency. The currently planned 18-month timeline runs through the 2023 Golden Globes, which means the same voting body will be impacting the next two nomination and voting cycles. The HFPA has a membership of less than 90 journalists. Lasting and meaningful change to your membership goals could be achieved in under 18 months. The HFPA cannot accurately reflect the best of our industry until your membership expands to reflect more of the social, cultural and ethnic diversity that exists in the stories we tell and the creators with whom we work.
We’re also asking for a strong commitment to significant change in talent press conferences. We are keenly aware of how much harder we’ve had to lobby to secure press conferences for a number of Black performers and creators, representing unquestionably worthy content. This same work has often then gone unrecognized in your nomination and awards process. In addition, our teams have endured press conferences where our talent were asked racially insensitive, sexist and homophobic questions. For far too long, demands for perks, special favors and unprofessional requests have been made to our teams and to others across the industry. We regret that as an industry, we have complained, but largely tolerated this behavior until now.
Our talent and our staff deserve a professional environment while doing their jobs promoting our series and films. Therefore, we would also like to see the HFPA implement a specific and enforced code of conduct that includes zero tolerance for unwanted physical contact of all talent and staff. We recognize that this conduct is not representative of your full membership, but we need assurances that there will be timely, actionable next steps to discipline members who exhibit inappropriate behavior.
These matters deserve urgency, and the timeline you have proposed thus far does not inspire confidence that meaningful change will happen before two more seasons of voting are impacted. We welcome a discussion to address these issues with you and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Ann Sarnoff, Chair and CEO, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks
Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer, HBO and HBO Max
Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group
Channing Dungey, Chairman, Warner Bros. Television Group
Brett Weitz, General Manager, TBS, TNT and truTV
Johanna Fuentes, Head of Global Communications, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks
Christy Haubegger, Chief Inclusion Officer, WarnerMedia