A new, major dispute embroils the current operations of HFPA and Golden Globes Foundation.
The deal, which was approved by a majority of the HFPA’s roughly 90 members, dictated that the HFPA would be dissolved and its members, many of whom had collected salaries from the HFPA, totaling $5.2 million in the fiscal year ending in June 2023, per IRS filing. They would become employees of new for-profit Golden Globes organization, and would be paid either $250,000 up-front, or $75,000 per year for 5 years.
Helen Hoehne, who had been the president of the HFPA, became president of the Golden Globes organization. As part of an effort to increase the diversity of the voting body, hundreds of other journalists from all around the world were invited to become unpaid members.
Over the two years since that deal was finalized, the Golden Globes has implemented bylaws and policies that have helped to regain the industry’s confidence and landed its awards ceremony back on network TV, though with decreasing viewers (less than 10 million).
The number of former HFPA members within the organization, or “legacy voters,” has decreased to about 55, a result of expulsions (Sam Assi, Aniko Navai), terminations for racist charges (former HFPA president Philip Berk) and deaths (Judy Solomon, Aida Takla, Jorge Camara, Lorenzo Soria)
Those remaining legacy voters have become increasingly unhappy, particularly since Hoehne informed this year that the Golden Globes organization would be discontinuing the $75,000-per-year payments out of concern that they “could add to a perception of bias in voting.”
Legacy voters were offered a severance of $102,500 and were invited to reapply for Globes membership moving forward.
On Monday, people who had served on the HFPA boards prior to the 2023 deal convened and voted to reconstitute the HFPA. Their position is that the 2023 deal was nullified by DCP and Eldridge’s decision to terminate their compensation, and failing to honor assurances provided related to travel allowances, seats at the ceremony, and lifetime voting privileges.
Helen Hoehne Ousted
They are calling on the office of California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta, which oversees nonprofits and charities, and has yet to provide final signoff on the 2023 deal, to intervene. The legacy voters have lost faith in Hoehne, who was one of their own, but who they now regard with suspicion, and voted on Thursday to oust her from their board.
But not everyone associated with the legacy voters supports their current efforts. Jeff Harris and Dr. Joanna Dodd Massey, two of the 3 non-members who the HFPA appointed to its board in 2021, resigned from the board this week.
Massey, in a letter obtained by THR, wrote to the board, “We approved and executed a binding legal agreement to sell the Golden Globes and dissolve the HFPA — an action I believe the membership supported in order to preserve the Golden Globes and continue their admirable charitable work. That decision reflected a difficult but undeniable reality: the Hollywood community made clear it would not support the Globes as long as the HFPA members remained involved. The transaction was conducted with full transparency and due process, as all of the paperwork, notes/recordings and emails demonstrate.”
The question is whether or not ownership of the Golden Globes awards ceremony is in question.
The office of California’s Attorney General wrote to DCP and Eldridge attorneys in a May 17, 2023 missive obtained by THR: “The Attorney General has no authority to review and therefore takes no position on Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s proposed transaction except with respect to the assets subject to charitable trust (5% of the net profits of the Golden Globe Awards).”
The only aspect of the 2023 deal that requires approval by the State is the transfer of the HFPA’s charitable trust, now known as the GG Foundation.
The only reason that signoff hasn’t yet been provided is because individual legacy voters are flooding the AG’s office with complaints, which has delayed the process.
If the former, the question is what is the HFPA without the Golden Globes, which is what generated the funds for its charitable trust?
If the latter, then would the Golden Globes — the next edition of which has already been set to air Jan 11, 2016— once again be boycotted by the industry?
Would legacy voters have to return the moneys they have received over the last two years from DCP and Eldridge?
If a financial settlement can make the HFPA’s legacy voters drop grievances with the GG organization, then the office of California’s Attorney General would not have any reason to intervene.
