The Golden Globes just went from being tarnished to being toxic.
After an email by former 8-term Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Phil Berk drew massive media coverage for its anti-Black Lives Matter comments, Comcast/Universal’s NBC called for Berk’s expulsion, leaving no doubt how seriously unhappy the network is with the GG.
Subsequently, Berk, an 88-year-old South Africa native, was kicked out, two diversity experts retained by HFPA to help manage the last crisis quit and reports have the group’s PR agency close to exiting. HFPA had promised NBC it would resolve its lack of diversity by early May by adding 13 qualified Black international journalists, bringing its membership total to 100. With Berk’s ouster, there’s now one more slot to fill and very little time left in which to do it.
NBC is reportedly paying HFPA & Dick Clark Productions about $60M annually through 2026. This year’s GG telecast – NOMADLAND (pictured) won best picture-drama – saw a rating plunge that’s since been echoed by other awards events. Viewers are said to be particularly unhappy about how political preaching by winners now dominates such shows