The Golden Globes Face Irrelevance

The Golden Globes got themselves in a bit of a scandal this year. Was it the lavish jaunt to France that members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association accepted so that they could inspect the making of (surprise Globes nominee!) Emily in Paris? Nah. Not only was that not shocking, it wasn’t even surprising. Everyone assumes attention from the Globes voting body (a group of “journalists” nobody has ever heard of) can be bought, and that the HFPA is about as interested in corruption policing as the Chinese Communist Party.

No, the scandal is that, as it turns out, none of the HFPA’s 87 members are black. Whoops! Next year by this time, there will be a few black members, and the Globes voters will resume being treated like Bourbon kings by the studios and streaming services that spend millions on trophy hunting. Last night, to open the annual Globes ceremony, hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler made a glancing reference in their opening monologue to the inclusion scandal, then three members of the HFPA took the stage to solemnly promise more inclusion, then Jane Fonda, in accepting a lifetime achievement award, gravely intoned that inclusion is really important, and nobody referred to the corruption scandal. Because it isn’t a scandal, just standard operating procedure.

About the Author

Kyle Smith

Kyle Smith is the film critic for the Wall Street Journal.

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The Golden Globes got themselves in a bit of a scandal this year. Was it the lavish jaunt to France that members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association accepted so that they could inspect the making of (surprise Globes nominee!) Emily in Paris? Nah. Not only was that not shocking, it wasn’t even surprising. Everyone assumes attention from the Globes voting body (a group of “journalists” nobody has ever heard of) can be bought, and that the HFPA is about as interested in corruption policing as the Chinese Communist Party.

No, the scandal is that, as it turns out, none of the HFPA’s 87 members are black. Whoops! Next year by this time, there will be a few black members, and the Globes voters will resume being treated like Bourbon kings by the studios and streaming services that spend millions on trophy hunting. Last night, to open the annual Globes ceremony, hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler made a glancing reference in their opening monologue to the inclusion scandal, then three members of the HFPA took the stage to solemnly promise more inclusion, then Jane Fonda, in accepting a lifetime achievement award, gravely intoned that inclusion is really important, and nobody referred to the corruption scandal. Because it isn’t a scandal, just standard operating procedure.