The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the elusive 90-member organization that hosts the annual Golden Globe Awards, has been embroiled in controversy since it was revealed the group has zero Black members.
While the leadership has spoken in platitudes about the need to do better, the HFPA remains under fire.
Now, some new HFPA-related controversy has emerged, which doesn’t reflect well on the organization.
According to The Wrap, the HFPA “denied requests to hold press conferences for three major projects with Black-led casts in recent years,” including Netflix’s “Bridgerton” and the feature films “Girls Trip” and “Queen & Slim”.
“Bridgerton” exec producer Shonda Rhimes took to Twitter, sharing a link to The Wrap‘s story and confirming its veracity.
“HFPA rejected our press conference. Until it was a ‘surprise hit’ (‘Grey’s’, ‘Scandal’, ‘Murder’ -SURPRISE!) And yet they STILL asked me to show up in person to present at the Globes. We’re not the only ones. This is why HFPA’s house is on fire. They lit the flame w/their own ignorance,” Rhimes wrote. “And I’m the lucky one. More important: think of all the great talent and shows out there that never even got a chance.”
HFPA rejected our press conference. Until it was a "surprise hit" (Grey's, Scandal, Murder -SURPRISE!) And yet they STILL asked me to show up in person to present at the Globes. We're not the only ones. This is why HFPA's house is on fire.They lit the flame w/their own ignorance. https://t.co/RPZaCa4ty3
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) March 16, 2021
According to The Wrap, all three of those projects had submitted requests to hold press conferences with the HFPA — “and were turned down for lack of interest or other reasons.” Not surprisingly, none of those three projects received a single Golden Globe nomination.
