After Backlash Over Its Reform Plans, Golden Globes Group Considers a New Option

Eldridge’s suggestion of 50 additional voters would be a 63 percent increase. But those voters would not become members, at least not immediately. That means they would not receive the same financial compensation as the current members, who would become employees, with rolling terms, of the new for-profit company and have responsibilities that include producing content that can be used to promote the Globes.

(A nonprofit H.F.P.A. arm would continue to exist as well, with responsibilities that include charitable giving; the organization says it has given away $45 million over the last 28 years. On Wednesday, Mr. Boehly proposed that the charitable entity expand its mission, including by endowing journalism chairs at one or more historically Black colleges and universities.)

The foreign press association has been under fire since February, when a wide-ranging Los Angeles Times article found, among other things, that the group had no Black members, had more than $50 million in cash on hand at the end of October and paid large sums to members for serving on committees. The newspaper has continued to scrutinize the organization, publishing more than 40 articles about its problems and the most recent Globes ceremony.

During the Globes telecast on Feb. 28, members of the foreign press association vowed to diversify the group. A set of changes were announced in early May. They included increasing the group’s membership by 50 percent over the next year and a half and hiring diversity consultants (those initially hired to do the job quit under protest). The association also said it planned to hire a search firm to seek potential candidates to run the group, and had retained a law firm to help carry out the changes.

But Hollywood — long willing to turn a blind eye to the group’s problematic inner workings — pushed back. Netflix declared that it would not work with the organization unless additional changes were made. Amazon and WarnerMedia said the same. Scarlett Johansson said in a statement that the organization’s news conferences “bordered on sexual harassment,” and Tom Cruise returned his three Golden Globe trophies. A group of more than 100 publicity firms that serve the entertainment industry vowed a boycott.

All of that, and the knowledge that the ratings for February’s show dropped precipitously, prompted NBC to cancel the 2022 show.

“We continue to believe that the H.F.P.A. is committed to meaningful reform,” the network said at the time. “However, change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the H.F.P.A. needs time to do it right.”