Golden Globes to announce nominees before a return to TV

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The companies behind the tarnished Golden Globe Awards are pushing forward with a rehabilitation effort Monday, announcing nominations for a televised ceremony on Jan. 10.

Who will show up to collect the trophies is another matter.

NBC canceled the 2022 telecast amid an ethics, finance and diversity scandal involving the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the unorthodox organization that bestows the Globes. Citing extensive HFPA reforms, NBC in September agreed to return the ceremony to its air for an 80th installment — under a one-year trial. For the first time, the show will also be available simultaneously online, through Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service.

Most movie studios view the Globes telecast and accompanying red carpet spectacle as crucial marketing opportunities for winter films, especially dramas, which have been struggling at the box office. But not everyone in Hollywood is eager for the Globes to return. Publicists and agents say that some stars — those with the most to gain from the exposure — have an open mind, while others want the Globes to be retired forever.

Kelly Bush Novak, CEO of ID, a leading Hollywood publicity and marketing firm, said she would encourage clients to participate, in part because she expected Globe voters to recognize a diverse group of artists. “Many of us — in a truly collective effort — held the organization accountable, and many of us are encouraged by the strides and commitment that have resulted,” Novak said. (She added, however, that more work needed to be done.)

Last year, after the Los Angeles Times enumerated the foreign press association’s well-known but long-overlooked lapses, Tom Cruise returned his Globe trophies. More recently, Brendan Fraser, who has received rave reviews for his performance as a morbidly obese man in “The Whale,” said he would not attend the ceremony if nominated. In 2018, Fraser accused a then-member of the HFPA of groping him in 2003, which the member denied.

Stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael will host the ceremony, which is being held on a Tuesday (as opposed to its accustomed Sunday spot) to avoid NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”

With new interim CEO Todd Boehly leading a turnaround effort, the HFPA has overhauled membership eligibility, recruited new members with an emphasis on diversity, enacted a stricter code of conduct and has moved to end its tax-exempt status and transform into a for-profit company with a philanthropic arm. Boehly is awaiting final governmental approval for that plan. Once it comes, he is expected to disband the HFPA and rebrand the charitable division.

The 96-member organization now has six Black voters — up from zero — and has added 103 nonmember voters, a dozen or so of whom are Black. One member was recently kicked out for conduct violations, including fabricating quotes, which leaders of the group have cited as proof of their reformed ways.

Live awards shows, including the Oscars, have lost tens of millions of viewers over the past decade, but the biggest ceremonies still attract a larger audience than almost anything else on traditional television, aside from live sports. The most recent Golden Globes telecast, held without celebrity attendees in early 2021 because of the pandemic, attracted about 7 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Pre-pandemic, the show was attracting about 18 million viewers annually.

(Author: Brooks Barnes)/(c.2021 The New York Times Company)