NBCUniversal, which broadcast the Golden Globe Awards for a quarter of a century, broke the silence in an interview on Wednesday with the Los Angeles Times.
Time’s Up weighed first. Then talent. And more than 100 entertainment PR companies.
On Wednesday, NBCUniversal, the chain that hosts the annual Golden Globe Awards, criticized the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization of 87 journalists that decides the nominees and winners of the Globe.
HFPA has been under constant fire since a February 21 denunciation in the Los Angeles Times revealed that, among other great ethical lapses, the organization has zero black members. But in spite of everything, the Peacock Network – which has aired Globes for the past 25 years and in 2018 extended its TV rights contract with HFPA and Dick Clark Productions for nearly $ 60 million a year until 2026 – remained silent .
Now, the media company owned by Comcast Corp. is telling the Times, “Our perceived silence about this should not be equated with apathy or lack of concern.” In fact, EVP and Director of Diversity at NBCUniversal Craig Robinson I told Times, “We are taking these issues very seriously and we also understand our role and the importance of our role in encouraging HFPA to do what we consider necessary changes – and we are using that influence.”
Robinson said NBCUniversal executives, including Susan Rovner, who is president of television and streaming entertainment content, and Frances Berwick, who is president of entertainment networks, had the first of several meetings with HFPA shortly after the 78th Golden Globe broadcast on NBC on February 28 and, in the words of Times, “stressed that the viability of the show depends on the group’s efforts to reform.”
According Times, NBCUniversal specifically asked HFPA to recruit black and diverse members, and also to address questionable financial practices detailed in the Times piece. The publication said that none of the NBCUniversal executives with whom it spoke about the story would confirm whether they had threatened to end the recently extended TV contract.
This year’s Globes broadcast, which was largely virtual due to the ongoing pandemic, generated a record 6.9 million viewers.