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‘Why Has It Taken 75 Years to Add Black Members?’ Hollywood PR Exec Confronts HFPA President at Festival Event (Exclusive)

A prominent Hollywood publicity executive questioned the diversity efforts of the Golden Globes’ Hollywood Foreign Press Association in a public exchange last week with the organization’s newly re-elected president Helen Hoehne, TheWrap has learned.

Cassandra Butcher, who is among the 100-plus Hollywood publicity executives who have boycotted the organization in the past 18 months over the group’s lack of reform and racial diversity, challenged Hoehne at an HFPA-sponsored panel last Thursday at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival.

“I raised concerns,” Butcher told TheWrap exclusively on Monday, recalling that she asked Hoehne to her face: “How did they go about reinstating the membership that had problems that got us here in the first place? What is the application process to apply for membership? Why has it taken 75 years to add Black members?” she said, referring to the decades-long dearth of nonwhite HFPA members until just last year, when the group added six Black members following a very public outcry that led to an industry-wide boycott and NBC’s cancellation of the 2022 Golden Globes broadcast.

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Those questions, Butcher said, encapsulated the ongoing concerns of her and other PR professionals who represent leading Hollywood actors about the future of the organization.

“We need to have a collective conversation with HFPA — talent, agencies, studios together — to make sure the work is actual and not performative,” said Butcher, a veteran who repped top talent like John Singleton and now works as chief marketing officer for BRON Studios. “I’m not here to cancel the Golden Globes. But I do believe in reform. It’s 2022 — we want to see the reform. Be the change you want to see.”

Butcher said she also asked Hoehne about the involvement of the group’s interim CEO, Todd Boehly, a billionaire who owns the Globes’ production company, MRC, as well as holding a stake in top industry trades like The Hollywood Reporter. “Why is there the risk of a monopoly — when the owner of the HFPA is also owning part of media?”

Butcher is the second publicity executive to publicly call out the HFPA for lack of reform since the group was bought just over two weeks ago by Boehly’s Eldridge Industries. Shortly after the sale, Marcel Pariseau of True Public Relations sent an email to Hoehne saying that he felt “duped and misinformed” by the sale and that he and others had demanded more transparency and called for a longer Zoom meeting “to educate us about your progress and reforms.”

According the HFPA’s own account of the Martha’s Vineyard panel, Hoehne insisted to Butcher, “Diversity is not just a check-box for us. It has become our mission and our culture.”

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Hoehne also acknowledged bad behavior by some HFPA members in recent years, which has led to disciplinary measures. “We have had a few members leave who were inappropriate. We are cleaning up,” Hoehne said. “I believe the things that happened in the past couldn’t happen anymore because we have such a strict code of conduct in place. If anyone behaved that way now, they would not be a member of the organization anymore.”

She also pointed to last year’s appointment of the HFPA’s chief diversity officer Neil Phillips, who has helped lead the group’s efforts toward diversity, equity and inclusion. “He not only taught us about DEI but also about sensitivity and how to ask questions,” she said. “Coming from so many different cultures, English is not the first language for many of our members. Some members possibly weren’t aware of the impact of their questions.”

The HFPA is “aggressively” recruiting and will soon reveal its next round of new members, the group’s rep said. Last year, the organization added 21 new members, six of whom are Black — which fell short of its initially stated goals. One of the HFPA’s new Black members, KJ Matthews, appeared at the Martha’s Vineyard panel, along with independent HFPA board director Sharlette Hambrick.

According to the HFPA rep, the organization’s procedures for re-accrediting members each year is spelled out in its bylaws: Members must submit at least eight print clips or broadcast segments each year, proof of payment for that work and validation of the media outlet, as well as prove attendance at a a minimum number of HFPA press conferences and events. Those who don’t meet the requirements lose their membership for one year, and those who have over 20 years of service with the HFPA can apply to be emeritus members, which still allows them to vote for the Golden Globes but not to have governing votes or the ability to ask questions at press conferences.

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Last year, that accreditation review process was conducted by an outside panel of journalists, and this year a nine-member committee of both nonmember journalism professionals and other HFPA leaders led the process. Results of this year’s review are in the works and will be revealed shortly, the rep said.

But many publicists have questioned whether the HFPA will remain committed to reform following the sale to Boehly’s Eldridge Industries — especially since a private for-profit company has no obligation to reveal financial or other information that is legally required of nonprofits. That could lead to even less transparency into the organization amid calls for reform.

So far, no studio or network has lifted its boycott on HFPA events and NBC has not announced any decision about resuming the annual broadcast of the Golden Globes ceremonial — which went untelevised in January amid the ongoing outcry over the group’s practices.

Butcher told TheWrap that she has the same concerns with the HFPA as she did before, including press conferences with “nasty questions” or inappropriate behavior. She also questioned why so few members had lost their accreditation given their history. “If they’re still alive, they’ve been reinstated,” she said.

“I’d like to see their reforms,” Butcher said. “I don’t want to leave the next generation with the same issues and problems that were here when I started.”

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