Oh, No! No Golden Globes in 2022!

Headline: “There will be no Golden Globes on NBC in 2022, as the besieged Hollywood Foreign Press Association continues to falter in reforming itself to the satisfaction of Hollywood studios and stakeholders.”

“Besieged” in what way? Have the powers behind NBC decided that they have some right to dictate the tastes and preferences of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association? Is it the intent of NBC to bullyrag HFPA into voting according to some opaque set of rules intended to secure equality of outcome despite a disparity of talent?

Nothing can cause greater damage to the respect for and credibility of HFPA and the Golden Globe Awards than to have petty tyrants operating at great distances making decisions as to what rules determine who gets nominated and who wins. If HFPA kowtows to NBC, the creditability of the Golden Globes will be damage to the point of extinction.

Buried in the headline is one compact little lie: “(HFPA) continues to falter in reforming itself to the satisfaction of Hollywood studios and stakeholders”. What utter nonsense! Hollywood studios control the product from beginning to end. Is it not they who are in need of any reform? HFPA consists of writers who report on the Hollywood studio’s product. Why is it that HFPA is in need of reform? And, by-the-way, WTF is a “stakeholder”. Does such an individual have any money on the line if a movie falls on its ass?

So, what does the Hollywood Foreign Press Association need to do? For one thing, they need to tell NBC that they are banned from televising the Golden Globes until 2027. If another network decides on a similar course, extend the ban for them to 2032, etc. Consider another headline: “Golden Globes Ratings Fall To All-Time Low For NBC In Final Numbers” . Is this NBC’s attempt at a gentle withdrawal from a losing project, and at the same time to appear “woke”? Why the drop in ratings? I have no personal experience of the matter. I stopped watching television around 1987. That said, it is apparent that such shows as this (and the Oscars) have become forums in which actors of all stripe have taken advantage of the format to deliver lengthy dissertations on their own naïve views on matters political. Perhaps as many as 30% of the viewing audience soaks up these moments in that they are in full agreement with the sentiments expressed. I will not hazard a guess as to what percentage of viewers are indifferent. Perhaps they go take a leak during these speeches. Others, most certainly, switch channels, perhaps to view a reruns of the The Fall of the House of Usher (1950).

HFPA, in order to re-establish itself as an honorable institution, must rid itself of crass interference from non-stakeholders. In dealing with broadcast Media, it has many more to choose from than was the case ten years ago. There is, of course CBS and ABC, but now there are streaming services such as NetFlix, HULU, Peacock, Curiosity Stream, Disney or even FOX. If another network says that they will not broadcast the Golden Globes in any given year, let them be banned until 2023. Let the next fool to step forward be banned until 2028. Perhaps, the Last Man Standing will be Fox. If so, let them cut away to commercials when the latest neophyte actor-cum-political expert begins her or his rant on Global Warming. or some such politically correct drivel.

” The Corleone Family don’t even have that kind of muscle anymore.”

In a real sense, this line from The Godfather (1972) represents the degree to which heartless organizations have taken over huge corporations. The same organizations that once said,

“I also don’t believe in drugs. For years I paid my people extra so they wouldn’t do that kind of business. Somebody comes to them and says, «I have powders; if you put up three, four thousand dollar investment – we can make fifty thousand distributing.» So they can’t resist. I want to control it as a business, to keep it respectable. I don’t want it near schools – I don’t want it sold to children! That’s an infamia. In my city, we would keep the traffic in the dark people – the colored. They’re animals anyway, so let them lose their souls.”
―Giuseppe Zaluchi[src]

So, these are the people who now control the garbage collection industry, much of interstate trucking, the film industry and much of the check cashing and payroll loan business (through banks in which it has a controlling interest). They hold a sizeable number of student loans, which are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy court. They also control The Media.

These are the people who want to dictate to the people who control the Golden Globe Awards what choices the should make in praising films based on the ethnicity of those who appear in the films.

Good luck with that.