In a world of cancel culture and scrutiny over decisions, the Golden Globes is facing a media crisis.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has been secretive for years, but after last year’s snubs of prominent Black performances following other issues, they got dropped like a hot pancake.
NBC dropped the awards show from its 2022 schedule. Actors returned their awards. Studios disassociated. It was (and is) a firestorm.
And what has the HFPA done? They’ve promised change, updated bylaws and added 21 new members (the pool was less than 100 last year, with zero Black members).
Nominations were announced today (co-hosted by Snoop Dogg for some reason), and it’s tough to decide if they’ve improved and offered a more diverse group of nominees. Let’s take a look.
Movies
Best Picture
In 2021, the dramas were mostly white casts. The comedy nominees had a mix of stories and casts.
In 2022, I count one Black-focused story and one multiracial story amoug both categories.
Ruling: Slide backward
Best Director
In 2021, we saw a record-breaking three women nominated, two of whom are non-white.
In 2022, all nominees are white, but there are still two women nominees.
Ruling: Slide backward
Best Actress
There were two Black women among all the comedy and drama nominees last year.
This year, there is one Latin American nominee among both comedy and drama.
Ruling: Slide backward
Best Actor
In 2021, there were various groups represented in the nominees. We had Lin Manuel-Miranda, a first-generation American; Riz Ahmed, a British-Pakistani man; and other non-white nominees.
In 2022, half of the nominees are non-white.
Ruling: Neutral
Best Supporting Actor and Actress
We saw more diversity in the best supporting actress category this year, but the supporting actor nominees are all white this year.
Side note: Who has heard of “The Tender Bar,” the movie Ben Affleck got a nomination for?
Ruling: Neutral
Television
Best series
On the drama side, we saw some more casts with Black leads this year, plus a cast of Asians in “Squid Game.”
In comedy, there isn’t much diversity either year, but “Reservation Dogs” getting a nomination gives a place for indigenous people.
Side note: I’m curious about “Lupin,” a French thriller that’s on Netflix. I had never heard of it until today, but it has two seasons.
Ruling: Neutral
Best actress
For both drama and comedy, the nominees went from all white in 2021 to including two Black women in 2022.
One interesting tidbit is Tracee Ellis Ross is nominated this year for the first time since her win in 2017. “Black-ish” is ending in 2022 after eight seasons.
Ruling: Step forward
Best actor
Similar to actress, the drama category went from all-white to having two non-white actors, both of whom speak their own language in their shows.
The comedy category has included one Black actor both years, but last year also saw Ramy Yousef among the nominees, though his show “Ramy” hasn’t come out with its next season yet.
Anthony Anderson of “black-ish” is nominated for the first time since 2018 for his work on the ABC comedy.
Ruling: Step forward
Supporting actor and actress
For the actor nominees, we’ve seen a non-white nominee both years.
For the actress nominees, there have been zero nominees of color in the last two years.
Ruling: Neutral
Notable snubs who are non-white include Selena Gomez for “Only Murders in the Building” and Aretha Franklin for “Respect.” But every year it’s a tough pool, and you can make arguments for/against every nominee.
Overall, it’s hard to say for sure if the HFPA has truly taken a turn for the better. You can’t compare two years of movies with the same eye, especially these last two years with the pandemic. To me, it’s not clear based on this information.
Most of the press has suggested the HFPA take a year off, but they are moving forward. We have no idea how the awards will be handed out, but they will be presented Jan. 9, not on NBC.