A former publicist has sued the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the award show, for breach of contract. Among the allegations is that members sell their votes for both nominations and awards, in a “payola scheme”. Here is an AP story about it.
I saw another story somewhere claiming this guy had been their publicist for 17 years, but was fired immediately after last year’s show. There are various claims and counter claims, but there was one big surprise, to me at least. The HPFA only has 90 members.
That certainly makes a payola scheme much more feasible than for the Oscars, which has 6,000 members. Also potentially way cheaper and more effective, as fewer bought votes would have a greater likelihood of changing a result.
It sounds rather like a typical Hollywood sleaze story. If he was fired last year, it seems pretty clear the only reason he sued this week was to do some mud slinging to taint this year’s awards. And if he’s been doing the gig for nearly 20 years – was this corruption brand new? Did they fire him in order to launch this corruption scheme?
According to the linked story, the CGs have been taken off the air for a number of years on at least two separate occasions due to charges of corruption.
I’m hoping this lawsuit will be up for an award or two of some kind next year.
There was a documentary some years back, “The Golden Globes: Hollywood’s Dirty Little Secret,” which aired on the network Trio.
It didn’t allege outright payola, but it did reveal that most of the correspondents in the HFPA, were part-timers working for no-name publications who existed mainly to be wined and dined and have their asses kissed by TPTB in Hollywood.
That’s something they don’t talk much about. I’m actually surprised it’s that many.
And for many years, the awards were no more than a footnote, and it was rarely broadcast. But as networks realized people loved to watch award shows, no matter what, they jumped in to promote them.
There have been allegations of payola in the past (notably when Pia Zadora won for “Best Newcomer” after many of the HFPA were wined and dined by her millionaire husband – for a film that wasn’t even eligible).
This has been a well-known fact/secret for years.
Most people in Hollywood joke about the Golden Globes, but it is just such a fun party and they nominate pretty much anybody who is popular at the time (as if The Tourist was a film worth any awards this year?! Ha - even Angelina Jolie supposedly guffawed when she heard she was nominated!)
And yes, the “voters” are people who write film reviews for publications back home in Botswana, Fiji, Yemen and other hip urban localities. Who cares?! It is a fun party, they nominate the big film hits, do their best to nominate every hot celebrity to get them to show up, and they offer free booze. Who wouldn’t go?!
If I thought we could get away with it, I would suggest the SDMB start their own awards show. Greatest scam on earth - get to meet the stars, get drunk and eat for free, and maybe even get a nifty goodie bag at the end of the night.
The biggest difference between the Golden Globes and the Oscars is that the stars can drink at the Golden Globes. Nobody takes it more seriously than that.
They nominated The Tourist as Best Comedy. Think about that. Did either Johnny Depp or Angelina Jolie even show up tonight or were they too embarrassed?
I have a cousin who is in The Business and he told me years ago what others have said, that is that the GG’s are a joke, everyone in Hollywood knows it but it’s a great party so they all play along. He told me that the whole thing started as a lark. A few foreign journalists made up the award over a bunch of drinks and sent out press releases as an inside joke.
Well that explains how Burlesque and The Tourist got nominated for best picture. The Golden Globes has always been a joke to me, which is why I won’t watch it. WHY does this show get almost as much publicity as the Oscars, meanwhile many of the more legit awards shows don’t even get broadcast?
I don’t really think it’s a case of fraud. I figure everyone’s always known how the Golden Globes worked. A small group of people got together and started handing out some awards. If you want one of their awards, you suck up to them.
The more stars you can get to show up, the better the television ratings are. The GGs are a big party and everybody shows up. Good television. Good ratings.
But the claim is that they don’t – they hand out awards to people who pay the most for them. I’m not sure I’ve ever even seen the show, so I don’t know what public claims they make about the integrity of their voting process.
Eh, I haven’t watched the Oscars either. Aren’t they the one where some nerdy accountant from Price Waterhouse comes on stage and explains the secrecy and blah blah blah of how they handle the nominations? Do the GGs do anything like that?
Way back when during the quiz show scandals… were any of those shenanigans determined to be criminal?
But this is clearly untrue. They mostly hand out awards to movies that win Oscars. The correlation is high, at any rate. Your cite doesn’t list a single example of an award being bought. Since Pia Zadora, I can’t think of any major scandals.
Movies get nominated that are jokes, which is where 99% of the eyebrow-raising comes from. But they almost never win. Maybe actually never.
Which is how they skate on this. Technically, selling a nomination is as bad as selling an award. But nobody who counts really cares.
ETA: Nobody cares what you think either. Only about what 10 million others do.
Yeah, somehow I doubt that if it came down simply to money for getting a win that The Kids are All Right could have possibly outspent any of the other nominees in that category. Same for Colin Firth in his category.
That said, it is hardly a secret. Heck, Ricky Gervaise acknowledged it in the first 3 minutes of the show.
The Price Waterhouse guys make big claims that they keep the results secret not that the result was unbiased. You do realize that studios play plenty to get the movies “considered” for an Oscar? It’s not as blatent as “Here’s fifty bucks and a list of movies you’re voting for.” But members of the academy get invited to free screenings with complimentary refreshments and cocktails and a chance to meet the movie’s stars.
*It has been two weeks since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association unexpectedly awarded the Golden Globe for best picture of the year to “Scent of a Woman.” The film won over such acclaimed movies as “Howards End,” “A Few Good Men,” “The Crying Game” and “Unforgiven.”
But now Hollywood is buzzing that numerous members of the foreign press group flew en masse to New York to see the film and to meet Al Pacino, the star of the film, before the vote. Coincidentally, the group voted Mr. Pacino best actor. Who paid for what remains very unclear.*
and
But the Foreign Press Association has always been a bit mysterious, even by Hollywood’s slippery standards. Its members’ publications are rarely listed in the phone directory. Some of the journalists don’t seem to write much. And over the years several of them have reportedly also owned boutiques or worked as waiters.
and
Virtually every major star in town appears at the Golden Globes, partly because it’s common knowledge that a star won’t win an award unless he or she guarantees an appearance at the dinner.
finally
*But Mr. Reiner, one of the few celebrities to criticize the group publicly, said he was appalled at the association.
“It’s one thing to have an organization writing articles all over the world,” he said. “But that doesn’t seem to be the main thrust. The main thrust seems to be an elaborate scheme to have their pictures taken with you.”*