The Hollywood Foreign Press Association filed an antitrust lawsuit Tuesday against Variety’s parent company, Penske Media Corp., over its 2023 Golden Globe win.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, accuses PMC of controlling the awards ceremony through a “sham process tainted with fraud.” It also alleges that PMC instigated a boycott against the Globes to weaken the show and make it more susceptible to takeover.
Spokespeople for PMC and the Golden Globes denied the allegations in a statement.
“Today’s lawsuit is a continuation of the absurdity and unreasonableness that the industry has come to expect from the defunct organization formerly known as the HFPA,” the company said.
HPFA, a nonprofit association of foreign journalists, ran the awards ceremony for nearly 80 years until a Los Angeles Times report in February 2021 sparked a diversity scandal. The report found that the HFPA had no black members, leading to an industry PR boycott and prompting NBC to take it off the air in 2022.
HPFA adopted a series of reforms before agreeing to sell the Golden Globe Awards to PMC-owned Dick Clark Productions and Eldridge. The complaint alleges that HFPA members approved the transaction under false pretenses.
The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that HFPA members were guaranteed lifetime voting rights to the awards and lifetime tickets to the show. But “Penske later reneged on that fundamental promise, guaranteeing voting rights only to members who accepted direct employment with Penske Trust,” the complaint states.
“The result was a voting body operating at Penske’s discretion rather than as an independent journalistic organization,” the lawsuit continues.
The lawsuit alleges that PMC owns several other trade publications, exercises exclusive power over trade markets, “secondary awards” markets, and “For Your Think” advertising markets, and has taken steps to exclude HFPA members from participating in these markets.
The HFPA was expected to scale back operations after selling the awards ceremony. But last year, the HFPA board voted to suspend the dissolution process “to fulfill the organization’s obligation to investigate misconduct and conflicts of interest” related to the sale, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit seeks at least $150 million in damages.
“The Golden Globe transaction was completed over three years ago and all necessary approvals had been obtained. Any claims that it was not completed or remain subject to cancellation are once again demonstrably false,” the PMC statement continued. “This latest act of duplicity is a new low for the HFPA. The attempt by former HFPA members to use the Golden Globe Foundation, an independent non-profit organization, just to secure tickets to the Golden Globes is a misdirection of resources from legitimate charities. It is an unfortunate mess that is dire. We remain troubled that the HFPA, an organization that has been widely criticized for ethical failures, non-inclusion, racism, and misconduct involving talent, continues to search for willing attorneys to push such unwarranted claims. ”
