The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) will not hold any press conferences for eligible content for the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards, the organization president announced Friday.
“The HFPA will not be hosting any press conferences during the current awards cycle,” Helen Hoehne, president of the HFPA, said in a statement.
“Our commitment remains on recognizing the very best in film and television both in the U.S. and abroad, and bringing the Golden Globes to a global television and streaming audience. With the expansion of the voting body and the increase in eligible content this year, we are focused on the nominations and making the 80th a historic event to remember.”
The release emphasized that HFPA press conferences were never a requirement for Golden Globe consideration.
The organization’s press conferences are a known sticking point for stars, studios and publicists, as one previously told TheWrap they’re “cautiously assessing everything” before determining whether to welcome back the HFPA with open arms. But publicists agree the days of studios, streamers and networks bending over backward to receive a Golden Globe nomination is a thing of the past.
“No one is jumping back into solo specialized press conferences for the HFPA. I don’t know anyone doing that now,” a top publicist who asked to remain anonymous said.
The HFPA and the awards has been embroiled in controversy for the past couple years after it came to light that the organization had no Black members. The ensuing uproar led to a boycott by publicists and ultimately NBC pulling out of the Globes broadcast last year.
In response, the organization announced a plan to increase diversity in its membership last year but fell short of the announced goals. The group added 21 new members in 2021, six of whom are Black.
The group recently added another 103 voters who aren’t members of the HFPA, while the original members will soon draw a salary from the HFPA since it voted to become a for-profit company with a sale of its assets to its billionaire interim CEO Todd Boehly.
According to its own numbers, the HFPA’s voting body is now 52% female, 51.5% racially and ethnically diverse, with 19.5% Latinx, 12% Asian, 10% Black and 10% Middle Eastern.
The 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards will return to NBC and stream on Peacock on Jan. 10, 2023, at 5 p.m. PT/ 8 p.m. ET from the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
