Golden Globes Returning to TV Despite Diversity and Ethical Concerns

The Golden Globes will return to NBC in 2023, despite all the controversies surrounding the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the small group of journalists that give out the awards. NBC is considering airing the ceremony on a Tuesday in January, sources told The Hollywood Reporter. The HFPA and NBC have not commented.

NBC is looking to air the ceremony on Tuesday, Jan. 10, an odd date for award shows, which usually air Sunday nights. Before 2022, the Golden Globes usually aired on the first Sunday in January, but that is New Year’s Day in 2023. The second Sunday is Jan. 8, the last day of the NFL’s regular season. The Critics Choice Awards already took Jan. 15.

The HFPA has been criticized for unethical practices for decades, but Hollywood finally turned their back on the organization after the Los Angeles Times published a series of exposes about the group before the 2021 Golden Globes. The paper reported that the HFPA had zero Black members at the time, and pulled the curtain back on some of its other questionable practices. This led to celebrities distancing themselves from the Globes, with Tom Cruise even returning his three awards.

NBC aired every Globes ceremony from 1996 to 2021. In 2018, NBCUniversal agreed to pay the HFPA and Dick Clark Productions $60 million a year to carry the ceremony, often marketed as a way to see Hollywood stars partying in an informal ballroom setting, through 2026. After the Times published their reports and the industry backlash that came with them, NBC refused to air the 2021 ceremony. “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,” the network said at the time.

The HFPA responded to the criticism by making major reforms, including banning members from receiving gifts and expanding its membership by adding 21 journalists, six of them Black. However, questions remain about how dedicated the HFPA is to make changes. One of the most alarming revelations is that after interim CEO Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries investment firm bought the HFPA in July, the HFPA became a for-profit organization and needed to create a separate non-profit for its philanthropic efforts, notes THR. HFPA members will also be paid $75,000 annually, but a group of outside journalists invited to vote will not be paid.

Still, THR reports that many industry insiders have “softened” their view of the HFPA in a desire to get the awards season back on its familiar track. Even though the Golden Globes are voted on by journalists, they were seen as a boost to Oscar campaigns before the 2021 controversies. That means it’s likely that the 2023 Globes will be more interesting than the widely-mocked tweets that made up the 2022 edition.