The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) sold its rights to the Golden Globe Awards and disbanded itself as an independent organization, marking the end of its tumultuous 80-year history.
For decades, the HFPA has been plagued by accusations of corruption, with incidents coming to light in which producers and studios lavished HFPA members with luxurious trips and other gifts in order to curry favor when casting votes for Golden Globe nominations.
This corruption was an open secret in Hollywood, mocked by many over the years including some hosts of the Golden Globes awards itself. As a result, the Golden Globes were widely viewed as the least serious of the industry awards, even while the party-like atmosphere of the awards event drew high ratings.
This all changed in 2021 when a report in the Los Angeles Times broke that shone a bright light on the depth of this corruption, including the shocking statistic that the HFPA had not a single black representative among its hundreds of members. Blowback from the report prompted many famous filmmakers and stars to announce that they were returning Golden Globes that they had won in prior years and NBC to cancel its plans to broadcast the Golden Globes in 2022.
While NBC brought the show back in 2023, the HFPA was never able to recover from the damage it had suffered after the Los Angeles Times expose. Rights to the awards ceremony have been transferred to a private equity company, Eldridge Industries, and Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media. While NBC still plans to broadcast the Golden Globes awards ceremony on January 7th, 2024, it is unclear who will make up the voting body that selects its nominees and winners.
See also: Will the Golden Globes still be golden as a for-profit show? (Los Angeles Times)