Golden Globes: NBC won’t air 2022 ceremony, Tom Cruise returns trophies in protest

The walls are closing in on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) as its broadcast partner, the American television network NBC, said it will not air the 2022 Golden Globes ceremony.

Earlier, Hollywood star Tom Cruise returned his three Golden Globe trophies, throwing his weight behind celebrities such as Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo who have asked that the organization that runs the awards reform its membership and processes.

The American television network said in a statement, “We continue to believe that the HFPA is committed to meaningful reform. 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.”

Cruise won two Best Actor trophies for Born On The Fourth Of July (1989) and Jerry Maguire (1996) and a Best Supporting Actor trophy for Magnolia (1999). The actor returned all three to the HFPA headquarters in West Hollywood.

The HFPA has been under scrutiny the past few months as an exposé by The Los Angeles Times before the 78th Golden Globe awards revealed the organization has no Black member.

Moreover, the investigation unveiled accusations of corruption and financial irregularities.

The HFPA has long been accused of not nominating enough people of colour and female filmmakers and of ignoring screenings of films and series by them. The foreign journalists also seem enamoured of the A-list stars they nominate and often look for ways to hobnob with them.

At this year’s live ceremony, key members of the group, HFPA president Ali Sar, former president Meher Tatna and vice-president Helen Hoehne, all pledged to include Black members in the organization after a protest campaign led by Time's Up, which featured artistes such as Kerry Washington, Sterling K Brown, Ellen Pompeo, America Ferrera, Mark Duplass, Dakota Johnson and Laura Dern.

The organization also vowed to add diversity to its membership within 60 days and hired a diversity consultant and other advisers to guide it as over 100 Hollywood PR firms signed an open letter saying their clients would not participate with the HFPA without seeing its processes and willingness to change.

The HFPA will also add restrictions on gifts for members and fees for work on committees.

However, on 18 April, the Hollywood website Deadline.com reported that an internal email by HPFA member and former eight-term president Philip Berk called the Black Lives Matter a “racist hate movement”. Berk was expelled two days later.

In the last week, streaming platforms Netflix and Amazon Prime Video both stated that they plan to boycott the awards until the reform policies are in place. In an open letter, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote, “We don’t believe these proposed new policies — particularly around the size and speed of membership growth — will tackle the HFPA’s systemic diversity and inclusion challenges, or the lack of clear standards for how your members should operate. So we are stopping any activities with your organization until more meaningful changes are made. Netflix and many of the talent and creators we work with cannot ignore the HFPA’s collective failure to address these crucial issues with urgency and rigour.”

On Monday, WarnerMedia joined Netflix and Amazon in the boycott. In a Variety.com report, executives at WarnerMedia said the HFPA wasn’t really committed to change and therefore, “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.”