The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), presenter of the Golden Globes, has hired a racial equity expert and an outside counsel to help it implement its plan for “transformational change” on diversity and inclusion.
However the hires came the same day that Time’s Up released a list of more radical recommendations for how the under-fire Association can “rid itself of the institutional racism, sexism, disrespect, alleged corrupt financial dealings, and other unethical practices” reported around the recent announcement of the Golden Globes nominations.
The HFPA is hiring Dr Shaun Harper, provost professor at the University of Southern California and founder and executive director of the university’s Race and Equity Center, as a strategic diversity advisor. Among other things, he will review the group’s laws and eligibility requirements to achieve a more diverse membership.
Law firm Ropes & Gray will conduct a review of HFPA policies, membership process, operations and governance.
In a statement, the HFPA said it understood “the importance of building a more inclusive organisation and becoming more transparent in our operations, and these hires are an important first step.”
The long list of HFPA reforms suggested by anti-workplace discrimination group Time’s Up, meanwhile, called on the group to bring in a new board and new management. While the process is underway, current members should resign and reapply for membership in a year’s time, said Time’s Up.
Other recommendations called for membership of the HFPA, currently at around 90, to be expanded to 300 journalists based anywhere in the world; for the development and publication of anti-harassment, anti-discrimination and ethics policies; and for the date of the Golden Globes ceremony to be moved away from the period before Academy Award nominations are revealed.
Current timing of the HFPA ceremony, said Time’s Up, “has given the Globes an outsized influence on later awards and exacerbated the effects of the institutional racism and sexism of the Globes.”
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