The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced the largest class of new members in the group’s history, just months after the group behind the Golden Globes faced criticism for its lack of diversity and alleged corruption. The class includes 21 new members and is being touted as the HFPA’s “most diverse†in history. Yet with six Black members, it still leaves the HFPA short of its promise to reach 13 percent Black membership by the 2022 Globes, made after the revelation that the group previously had zero Black members. “We are building a new organization, one that is not focused on fulfilling quotas, but instead has diversity and inclusion at its core, has ethical conduct as the norm, and has people of color involved in every aspect of the Association — from membership to executive leadership,†said president Helen Hoehne in a statement. (Indeed, per the release, people of color are now involved in the group’s board of directors, credentials committee, and advisory board.)
Among other changes, HFPA members may now reside across the U.S., rather than being required to live in Southern California, and may work in any medium, instead of only in print. Following a report that HFPA members traveled to a lavish Emily in Paris junket on Paramount Network’s dime (before the show moved to Netflix), the group has also added new ethical rules. “Members can no longer accept promotional materials or other gifts from studios, publicists, actors, directors or others associated with motion pictures and television programs,†per the release, with an additional stipulation that members pay for their own travel to events.
The new members — who bring the group to 105 members altogether, past the stated goal of 100 by 2022 — join as a few others have departed the HFPA. In April, former HFPA president Phil Berk was ousted after reports of an email in which he called Black Lives Matter a “racist hate movement.†Then, in June, two members resigned from the HFPA, calling the group “toxic†and expressing a lack of confidence in its planned reforms. Meanwhile, the fate of the 2022 Golden Globes themselves remains unclear, after NBC announced in May it would not broadcast the upcoming ceremony.