The Golden Globes more than tripled their voter base to make it more diverse

The Golden Globes were previously slammed for not having a single Black person amongst their 2022 voter pool

By Emma Keates  |  April 11, 2023 | 3:47pm
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The Golden Globes more than tripled their voter base to make it more diverse
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Say what you want about the Golden Globes (and there’s quite a lot you could say), but they do seem to be holding to at least some of the promises they made to bring “transformational change” to the much-maligned broadcast.

Most notably, they’ve brought their diversity up from what is not hyperbole to call absolute rock bottom in 2021. In case you’re not keyed into niche, B-tier award show drama, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA)—the organization in charge of the night—was caught in a firestorm of their own making two years ago when it came out that members were not only regularly accepting bribes from studios in exchange for awards, but also did not have a single Black voter on their panel of 87 people.

While this controversy led to the broadcast’s cancellation in 2022, the stars and their champagne returned this January with a new Chief Diversity Officer and “a dozen or so” Black voters behind them (per The New York Times).

For the 2024 awards—which will return to the Globes’ original primetime slot despite this year’s record low ratings—the HFPA seems to actually be buckling down on their promises to change.

Per IndieWire, the association announced yesterday that they had expanded their voting body to 310 members, with an additional 215 international voters. Of this new group, 25% identify as Latino, 14% identify as Asian, 10% identify as Black, 9% identify as Middle Eastern, and 42% identify as White. At least 17% also identify as LGBTQIA+. The international voting pool has also been expanded to include a total of 76 countries, including newly represented nations such as Cameroon, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Serbia, and Tanzania.

“The efforts put forth to identify, engage, and actively recruit diverse voters is strong evidence of the commitment by the Golden Globes to follow through on its promises to expand and reshape itself,” said Neil Phillips, the HFPA’s Chief Diversity Officer. “It shows that with the right leadership, effective community partnerships and an unwavering focus, we can achieve remarkable and transformational diversity growth.” Now all they need to do is figure out how to actually get people to watch the thing.

 
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