The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has made a new commitment to increasing Black representation within the organization. On Monday, the organization shared that it would add more than a dozen Black members to its organization. The HFPA is best known as the group that annually determines the Golden Globe Awards.
The move to increase Black representation comes amid pressure from publicists across Hollywood. Earlier this week, a group sent a letter to clients advising them against attending HFPA events until the organization outlined a plan to boost diversity. Prior to this most recent announcement, the HFPA hadn’t added a Black member in nearly 20 years.
“We call on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to swiftly manifest profound and lasting change to eradicate the longstanding exclusionary ethos and pervasive practice of discriminatory behavior, unprofessionalism, ethical impropriety and alleged financial corruption endemic to the HFPA, funded by Dick Clark Productions, MRC, NBCUniversal and Comcast,” a group of 150 public relations firms wrote in a joint letter.
The HFPA moved swiftly by making this commitment and issuing a statement of their own. Moving forward, the HFPA said that it committed to “making necessary changes within our organization and in our industry as a whole.”
“We also acknowledge that we should have done more, and sooner,” the statement reads.
“As a demonstration of our commitment, the board has unanimously approved a plan to increase membership to a minimum of 100 members this year, with a requirement that at least 13 percent of the membership be Black journalists.”
