See also: TheWrap's Complete Golden Globes Coverage
Lawsuits. Contract disputes. Allegations of payola and corruption. Nominations that have made them a laughingstock.
Is this any way to run an awards show?
For the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, it's the only way they know. And as the 68th Golden Globes approach under a cloud of suspicion and derision, Hollywood is looking the other way and treating the Globes the way it always does: as an excuse to throw a lot of parties, and as a looser, livelier tryout for those speeches folks might have to deliver six weeks from now, when the pressure will be higher and the gratitude more heartfelt.
TheWrap has recently detailed many of the controversies swirling around the Globes, from its battle with Dick Clark Productions over its television contract to the blockbuster allegations made against the HFPA and its president, Philip Berk, in a lawsuit filed by the group's longtime publicist, Michael Russell.
Among its charges: that HFPA members accepted money, vacations and gifts from studios in exchange for nominations; that they sold media credentials and red carpet access for profit; and that Berk sought kickbacks from sponsors on the Globes telecast.
Does all of this undermine the credibility of the awards that'll be handed out at the Beverly Hilton on Sunday night?
Here's a more cogent question: did the Globes have any credibility to begin with?
After all, Ricky Gervais only said what everybody in the room thought with his best line from his first stint hosting the show last year: "One thing that can't be bought is a Golden Globe." Pause. "Officially."
Gervais is back for a second time this year, and one hopes that he'll feel even more emboldened and ready to mock his hosts – who, after all, provided him with ample comic fodder by bestowing three nominations each on two of the most widely-dismissed films of the last few months, "Burlesque" and "The Tourist."
If the controversies swirling around this year's Globes have much effect on what transpired onstage Sunday night, it'll likely be as a result of those nominations, not the late-breaking lawsuit.
That's because "The King's Speech" has always seemed to be a tailor-made winner in the Globes' Best Motion Picture – Drama category, an exemplary case of the kind of mainstream, emotionally-satisfying film that HFPA voters have always loved.
Read the The Full List of Golden Globes Nominees
But the widespread derision that came when they gave those nominations to "The Tourist" and "Burlesque," or handed two separate noms to Johnny Depp in the Best Actor – Comedy or Musical category, has the potential to push HFPA voters toward a film that reports say many of them didn’t quite get: "The Social Network."
Handing the top prize to the David Fincher drama, after all, would be a way of saying that these 80-odd reporters have the same good taste as every other critics group.
