The 2021 Golden Globes is getting the time’s up treatment.
The awards show, set to air Sunday on NBC, has come under fire after a recent exposé found that the Globes’ elusive group, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, does not have a single black member involved.
The organization Time’s Up launched a #TimesUpGlobes protest campaign Friday, calling out the HFPA, which selects nominees and hands out honors, over the lack of diversity.
“A cosmetic fix isn’t enough,” one of the group’s tweets read, a sentiment that was echoed by Shonda Rhimes as well as Kerry Washington, Alyssa Milano, Amy Schumer and more.
Several celebrities joined in to support the movement on Twitter, including Judd Apatow, who wrote: “So many crazy things about the @goldenglobes and the Hollywood Foreign press but this is awful. #timesupglobes.”
Ava DuVernay called it “Old news. New energy,” in her tweet along with the hashtag.
The campaign comes after the Los Angeles Times posted a damning report about the “insular, improbably powerful group” and the mysterious identities of its 87 members, who often keep “low profiles.” While it found that the group has does have some members of color, there are no black members, a fact which the HFPA confirmed. The group also said it’s an issue they’re “committed to addressing.”
For this year’s nominations, there were notable snubs for widely acclaimed films such as Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” and Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah” for the top big-screen honors — though “Judas” star Daniel Kaluuya scored a nod for a “supporting role.” HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” was nominated for best TV drama — but the entire cast was overlooked for acting nods.
In an initial statement, the HFPA said it was a choice made by its members.
“We do not control the individual votes of our members,” HFPA said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “We seek to build cultural understanding through film and TV and recognize how the power of creative storytelling can educate people around the world to issues of race, representation and orientation.”
However, by Thursday, the HFPA pledged to “bring in black members.”
“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,” the organization said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “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.”
On Friday, former HFPA president and board chair Meher Tatna told Variety there hasn’t been a black member of the organization since at least 2002, claiming it’s “not been easy” to find an international black journalist.
“As a person of color, it’s important to me,” Tatna said. “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.”
In 2018, Time’s Up led the charge amid the #MeToo movement, and many actors and actresses wore black on the red carpet as a sign of solidarity and to raise awareness about the campaign.
Similarly, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out Oscars, came under fire in 2015 for lack of diversity when it snubbed actors of color, leading to the #OscarsSoWhite social media campaign. Since then, the Oscars has made moves for more inclusivity spurred by the movement.
