Yahoo Finance Time's Up calls out the HFPA for having no black members
Ahead of the Golden Globes this weekend, reports have revealed that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association doesn't have any Black members, and hasn't in two decades.
The organization Time's Up highlighted the glaring disparity in social media posts, noting that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, whose members select nominees and winners at the Golden Globes, has "not a single Black member out of 87." This statistic, taken from a recent Los Angeles Times investigation, is particularly galling in a year when the work of talented Black artists, writers, and filmmakers has been almost completely overlooked by the Golden Globes.
A plethora of notable movies and TV shows are missing from the list of nominations in 2021, including Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You, Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods, and Issa Rae's Insecure. As previously noted, some major categories exclude Black nominees and people of color altogether.
Former HFPA president and board chair Meher Tatna also confirmed to Variety this week that there have been no Black members in the association since she joined in 2002. "It’s just there are nuances, as an organization of immigrants, who write for our home country, that search [for international Black journalists] has not been easy, but that doesn’t mean we will give up. We will keep trying, and we will be part of the solution," she said. As for the last time the HFPA had a Black member, Tatna revealed, "It was before my time, but I don’t remember what country he came from."
In response to the lack of Black HFPA members, the #TimesUpGlobes hashtag has started trending, with a multitude of celebrities taking to Twitter to share their responses. Ava DuVernay, Shonda Rhimes, Judd Apatow, Amber Tamblyn, Olivia Wilde, and Jurnee Smollett were among the first celebrities to share the hashtag and support the #TimesUpGlobes campaign.
Sterling K. Brown also addressed HPFA's lack of Black journalists on Instagram and wrote, "With the power you have HFPA, you simultaneously hold a responsibility to ensure your constituency is fully reflective of the world in which we live. When you know better, you must do better. And having a multitude of Black presenters does not absolve you of your lack of diversity. This is your moment to do the right thing. It is my hope that you will."
In response to the calls for fairer representation, a representative for the HFPA told Los Angeles Times, "We are fully committed to ensuring our membership is reflective of the communities around the world who love film, tv and the artists inspiring and educating them. We understand that we need to bring in Black members, as well as members from other underrepresented backgrounds, and we will immediately work to implement an action plan to achieve these goals as soon as possible."
Alongside the HFPA not having any Black members, and the awards' failure to recognise Black talent within the industry, the 2021 Golden Globes have also been met with widespread criticism for nominating Sia's directorial debut, Music, in two categories, despite the movie featuring an offensive depiction of autism and dangerous scenes of potentially lethal prone restraint.
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