NBC announced it would not broadcast the 2022 Golden Globe Awards in a statement Monday. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) which hosts the annual awards show has been under fire for what its critics condemn as a lack of diversity.
"We continue to believe that the HFPA is committed to meaningful reform," NBC said in its 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."
While NBC may be looking for a gold star from the woke crowd for its supposedly principled stance announced Monday, what they're proving is that progress, however defined, is impossible and enough is never enough for those who enforce the constantly-changing rules for engagement in polite society.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association was besieged by critics following a February 2021 report in the Los Angeles Times that accused the HFPA of being "out of step" due to its failure to nominate "several Black-led Oscar contenders." In response to criticism for lacking diversity in its leadership and nominations, the HFPA's board announced it would hire an Equity & Inclusion Officer, create a hotline for reporting conduct violations, and add more members." The HFPA's president declared the organization would become "more inclusive and diverse." At the time of the announcement, NBC "came out publicly for the board reform plan."
But committing to be more diverse and inclusive wasn't enough, apparently. When called out by the wokescolds who believe they know best how to run the world and all that is in it, there's nothing a person or company can do to make adequate restitution in the eyes of the woke.
Despite committing their organization to diversity and meeting an arbitrary ratio of appropriate racial representation among its members, the Golden Globes and their host organization still got the axe from NBC as other entertainment conglomerates piled on.
"While we commend the HFPA membership's approval of the plan to move towards radical reform" said a letter from WarnerMedia executives over the weekend that was even more explicit than NBC's statement, "we don't believe the plan goes far enough." The WarnerMedia letter continued:
"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."
This moral clarity comes from the town and industry that for decades ignored Harvey Weinstein—the man who was thanked more from glitzy Oscars stage than God above—and in NBC, a network that allowed blackface repeatedly on its air over the last two decades.
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