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Tom Cruise Has Returned His Golden Globes Following HFPA Backlash

Over the past few months, a boycott of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association—which is the group of journalists and photographers that vote for the Golden Globes every year—has been building steam. The organization has faced criticism in recent years for a lack of attention for women filmmakers, lack of diversity in its ranks, and alleged efforts to monopolize press access. But after the Los Angeles Times reported in February that the HFPA had no Black journalists amongst its 87 members, and a letter from Time's Up the following month asking for the HFPA's existing members to resign, we've seen a more significant protest begin against the group.

Within the past week alone, both Netflix and Amazon released statements saying that neither streamer would work with the HFPA until significant changes were made. On Monday, NBC—which has been the broadcast home for the Golden Globes—stated that it would not air the awards show in 2022. “We continue to believe that the HFPA is committed to meaningful reform," NBCUniversal wrote in a statement. "However, change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the HFPA needs time to do it right. As such, NBC will not air the 2022 Golden Globes. Assuming the organization executes on its plan, we are hopeful we will be in a position to air the show in January 2023.”

Less than a day after this news, Deadline reported that Tom Cruise has returned his three Golden Globes trophies—and you can imagine that other actors might do the same in the coming days. Cruise will forfeit his awards from Jerry Maguire, Born on the Fourth of July, and Magnolia.

On Monday evening, the HFPA's board issued its own statement in response to NBC's decision to not air the Golden Globes next year:

Regardless of the next air date of the Golden Globes, implementing transformational changes as quickly–and as thoughtfully–as possible remains the top priority for our organization.

We invite our partners in the industry to the table to work with us on the systemic reform that is long overdue, both in our organization as well as within the industry at large.

Our below timeline demonstrates our commitment to achieving these goals with extreme urgency.

The timeline includes a week-to-week itinerary of all planned reform efforts from May to August, starting with "Members meet, consider, and overwhelmingly vote to approve and implement the Board’s plan for transformational change." On the final week of the itinerary, which begins August 2, the HFPA plans to admit new members, elect a new board, introduce a new CEO and CFO, as well as see the resignation of its existing board and officers. In the meantime, we'll see if any other streamers or studios join Netflix and Amazon—and if Cruise's fellow Golden Globe winners will give up their trophies, too.

Photo credit: Mike Kim
Photo credit: Mike Kim

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