When the 79th Golden Globe Awards take place on January 9, one major component will be missing from the show—celebrities. The glitzy gala, which has traditionally served as the first major show to kick off Hollywood's awards season over the years, fell out of favor last year, after the Los Angeles Times published an exposé on the practices of the governing body. The damning article probed the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's (HFPA) business practices and poor record of diversity and representation among its membership of international journalists. In the resulting backlash, a number of celebrities, broadcasters and studios distanced themselves from the Golden Globes, prompting the HFPA to announce in August plans to reform its membership over a span of 18 months. However, the damage had been done, with NBC announcing that it wouldn't broadcast the 2022 ceremony and Tom Cruise returning three of the Golden Globe awards he had earned over the course of his hugely successful career. Amazon Studios and Netflix also said they would stop working with the HFPA. With the date of this year's awards show looming, Variety reported that no celebrities have agreed to take part in the ceremony, which was traditionally held at Beverly Hills landmark the Beverly Hilton. According to Variety, a letter was sent out by a Golden Globes talent booker to a number of publicity agencies, in a bid to secure their clients for the show. The memo read: "The Golden Globes will move forward with a small event on January 9th that will not only award the best performances in television and film for 2021, but also on recognizing the importance of supporting diverse creatives across the industry. "The event this year will celebrate and honor a variety of diverse, community-based programs that empower inclusive filmmakers and journalists to pursue their storytelling passions. The HFPA has financially supported important underserved organizations for decades and will continue to invest in the future leaders of our industry." While no details were shared on where the awards ceremony will take place, it was stated in the message that the event "will have limited guests and with strict COVID protocols that include not only proof of full vaccination, but also a booster shot and a negative PCR test." Newsweek has contacted a representative of the HFPA for comment. Nominations for this year's Golden Globe Awards were announced in December by the organization's president, Helen Hoehne, and surprise guest Snoop Dogg. With NBC having announced its decision not to broadcast this year's show, the lack of star power may be just one of the ceremony's problems, given the absence of an audience. In contrast to the current controversy surrounding the awards show, last year's ceremony—which was held in February due to the pandemic—was hosted by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey and boasted a star-studded roster of guests and presenters. Scarlett Johansson was among a host of stars who spoke out against the HFPA last year, saying in a statement, per The Guardian: "As an actor promoting a film, one is expected to participate in awards season by attending press conferences as well as awards shows. "In the past, this has often meant facing sexist questions and remarks by certain HFPA members that bordered on sexual harassment. It is the exact reason why I, for many years, refused to participate in their conferences. "The HFPA is an organization that was legitimized by the likes of Harvey Weinstein to amass momentum for Academy recognition, and the industry followed suit." She added: "Unless there is necessary fundamental reform within the organization, I believe it is time that we take a step back from the HFPA and focus on the importance and strength of unity within our unions and the industry as a whole." Filmmaker Ava Du Vernay tweeted at the time: "Warner Media, now the third studio to turn away from @goldenglobes, drops inside details about how it's harder to secure HFPA press conferences for Black artists and how artists are asked racially insensitive, sexist, homophobic questions. Strong statement." The annual Golden Globes ceremony has been unable to find a broadcasting partner or any celebrities willing to present or collect its awards after a Hollywood boycott over its diversity and ethics scandal, resulting in a pared-down event with the emphasis on philanthropy. According to Variety, the Globes’ talent bookers have failed to persuade any big Hollywood figures to attend the 2022 edition of the awards ceremony, a hitherto glittering annual event that traditionally kicked off the lucrative awards season. In March 2021 more than 100 public relations firms announced they would withdraw cooperation with the Globes, a series of high-profile Hollywood figures, including Tom Cruise and Scarlett Johansson, made stinging public criticisms, and TV network NBC cancelled its broadcast of the 2022 edition. In a statement on its website, the Golden Globes parent organisation Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) said that the ceremony would go ahead on Sunday at the Beverly Hilton hotel, and planned to “shine a light on the long-established philanthropy work of the HFPA, showcasing a range of grantees during the program”. The HFPA also said event will also “discuss” the Reimagine Coalition, an initiative announced in October 2021 and set up in conjunction with civil rights group the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to “increase diversity, equity, and inclusion across the global entertainment industry”. No press will be allowed inside the ceremony, and no red carpet will take place. Audience members will be required to wear masks, and follow strict Covid guidelines including proof of vaccination and negative tests. It has yet to be announced whether the ceremony will be livestreamed. The HFPA has been engulfed in crisis since the LA Times ran an exposé on the eve of the 2021 Golden Globes, accusing the organisation of a lack of diversity in its voting membership as well as “ethical lapses” in the way it conducted its business. The Golden Globe nominations were announced in December by guest presenter Snoop Dogg; Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast and Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog lead field with seven each. “Many talented people of color were snubbed in major categories; unfortunately there’s nothing we can do about that, the Hollywood Foreign Press are all very very racist,” said English comedian Ricky Gervais at the 2020 Golden Globes ceremony, which he hosted. This unintentionally prescient statement forms the basis of this year’s ceremony — or lack thereof. Major studios and celebrities alike are boycotting the event — with Tom Cruise even going so far as to return three of his trophies. The Golden Globes Awards this year took place as a private event — sans red carpet, ceremony, glitz, or glamor. The controversy is this: the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), a coalition of journalists who dole out the coveted trophies every year, was revealed by The Los Angeles Times to be a somewhat dubious coterie of people from all over the world. The organization was beset with scandal for a long time, and reports uncovered several ethical lapses, in-fighting, and unprofessional conduct within the organization. Moreover, of the 87 members, not one of them is black, pointing to a lack of diversity. A lawsuit by a Norwegian journalist accused the HFPA of “a culture of corruption,” and claimed that it worked like a cartel — monopolizing access in Hollywood and gatekeeping entry. The suit also claimed that the members accept “thousands of dollars in emoluments” behind a “code of silence,” from the same studios they later award generously. A case in point: Emily in Paris (2020), a critically panned show, receiving two Golden Globe nominations, after more than 30 HFPA members were flown to Paris to visit its sets. On the other hand, I May Destroy You (2020) — a series delving into the delicate intersections of race, trauma, sexual assault, and whether there can ever be closure from it — was snubbed. “Those who have interacted with the organization describe members falling asleep during screenings, hurling insults at one another during news conferences and frequently engaging in personal feuds,” The Times noted. The overwhelming concerns that prompted major studios to boycott the awards and NBC to decline to broadcast them, were that the HFPA carry outsized power in the awards. The Golden Globes are a strange beast in Hollywood. They are some of the most important awards and are also the most mocked, simultaneously. The Independent described them like this: ” the “boozy grandmother on the dancefloor” of awards shows: strange and frightening, yet impossible to look away from.” Of all the big awards in the film and TV industry, the Golden Globes particularly stand out as the “loose” and “boozy” counterpart of the more respectable Oscars or Emmys. “Arts awards might be inherently silly and driven more by hype and glad-handing than a serious assessment of artistic merit, but the Globes have a way of stripping off the veneer of respectability,” notes GQ. Their nominations have sometimes been head-scratching at best, downright unjust at worst. But the whole point of the show has been that they’re just fun to watch. Clips of Ricky Gervais skewering celebrities for their hypocrisy for the five years he’s hosted them continue to surface on social media, and strange choices such as Get Out and The Martian being nominated under the comedy category made for fun think-pieces. Related on The Swaddle: And yet, year after year, they draw high ratings and are NBC’s second-most-watched spectacle after sports. This year, however, there is nothing to even see. If the major draw was the frivolous air, the tipsy ramblings of hosts, the red carpet glamor, and the general spectacle — did they even happen this year, without any of that? The fanfare is what many critics have cited as diluting the Globes in particular — with members of the HFPA known to take selfies with stars and covet favors in exchange for votes. Moreover, it is well-known that the awards don’t matter, the show is what does. “I’ve heard that the pleasure of the event arises from the fact that the nominees know that the awards don’t matter—that the ceremony lacks the solemnity and the self-importance, let alone the actual importance, of the Oscars, and so the guests relax, some of them drink, and they lend the show a shambling charm that distinguishes it from Hollywood’s own self-celebration,” writes Richard Brody, for The New Yorker. When the weight of the award itself lies in the spectacle, attention, and public adulation it draws for recipients, they mean very little without. Indeed, the show is the award, and the show, sometimes, must not go on. What then? Without any of that this year, who cares? For winners to actually feel like they’ve accomplished something, they arguably require an audience to devour their dainty waves, to cheer their thank yous to their families, and their sometimes political statements that prompt a flurry of Twitter activity. In short, the Globes can be one elaborate hype-beast for stars who have already proved their mettle elsewhere. But the question prompts one about other award shows in Hollywood — even in Bollywood, for that matter: Do awards really matter? How many of them, save for the Oscars, actually spell prestige and genuine recognition of talent? Other domains — such as publishing, fine arts, science and literature — have awards too, but there hasn’t been a particular time in the history of network television when the Nobel Prizes drew spectacular viewership. That form of clout is different altogether — the very branding is in shunning fame, celebrity, and a focus on pure art. For every kind of award, therefore, there is an accompanying tradition that makes them what they are. In film and TV, the allure of award ceremonies is the allure of celebrity and stardom. Awardees gain their clout from being at the film industry’s biggest party and winning; and the party itself is a big deal because the stars show up. The seductive nature of fame makes film — even music — awards the subjects of wishful daydreaming, where the plebs can pretend to hold up a hairbrush and give a long and tearful acceptance speech. It isn’t in being recognized but in being seen that the power of the movie award lies. This year, with actors decrying the HFPA and the Globes themselves, we may be seeing a paradigm shift in the making. Last year’s host Ricky Gervais’ monologue was widely discussed as hailing the end of celebrity. Where previously the awards reinforced star-power through viewers’ undying fandom and admiration, in recent years there is growing disillusionment, and the stardom appears less shiny. People are just tired of celebrities now — especially in the wake of the vastly destabilizing effects of the coronavirus pandemic. It may be argued that stars have realized this, and their belated boycott of the whole affair may be belated recognition of the fact that in order to be taken seriously, they now have to really act the part of serious artists. This would require real credibility, and not a facade of it as has thus far been the case. With all the controversy around the show this year, one thing is clear: the Globes are not what the Globes without the party. But now, not many like the party very much. And when nobody can see it, did it even happen? The (controversial) jury is still out on that. |