By Danielle Broadway
(Reuters) – Following two years of criticism for its lack of diverse membership, the Golden Globes on Monday announced that it’s added new members, becoming one of the most ethnically diverse among major award shows.
There are now 300 journalists in total that serve as voting members.
The expanded voting body includes voters from countries around the world, including Guatemala, Costa Rica, Cameroon and more.
“The new breakdown is 47% female, and 60% racially and ethnically diverse, with 26.3% Latinx, 13.3% Asian, 11% Black, 9% Middle Eastern,” a press release said on Monday.
The 81st Golden Globe Awards will take place on Sunday, January 7, 2024.
The Golden Globe Awards earlier this year were sold to a new owner that shut down the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), following claims of ethical lapses and a lack of diversity within the organization.
Eldridge Industries purchased the Golden Globe assets with Dick Clark Productions (DCP), which will continue to manage the awards telecast and focus on expanding the Globes’ viewership around the world, a press release said. DCP is co-owned by Eldridge and Penske Media.
Host and comedian Jerrod Carmichael opened his monologue at this year’s January ceremony with a blunt assessment: that he was there because “I’m Black”.
“This show, the Golden Globe Awards, did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – which I won’t say that they were a racist organization – but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died,” Carmichael said.
He was referring to the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, which sparked nationwide Black Lives Matter protests against police killings and other violence against Black people. The watershed event inspired many organizations to create or reformulate anti-racist and inclusivity policies.
A Los Angeles Times investigation in 2021 revealed the association, or HFPA, had no Black journalists in its ranks. Some members were accused of making sexist and racist remarks and soliciting favors from celebrities and movie studios.
This announcement also follows the historic Hollywood writers’ and actors’ work stoppages this year.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA), which went on strike May 2 and reached a tentative deal with studios last month.
However, SAG-AFTRA actors’ have not made a deal with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents Walt Disney (DIS.N), Netflix (NFLX.O) and other studios after being on strike since July.
(Reporting by Danielle Broadway; editing by Christina Fincher)
