Critics Choice Association members were emailed Tuesday evening with a notice that they could no longer be part of both the CCA and the Hollywood Creative Alliance. That’s because the HCA had allegedly told studios that it could influence Critics Choice Awards voting, according to an email obtained by TheWrap.
“The reason CCA has taken this action is that we have evidence that a representative of the HCA has improperly suggested to at least one studio (and we suspect more) that it could influence Critics Choice Awards voting in a way that led that studio to reach out to CCA and request that action be taken to protect the integrity of our awards,” the organization wrote to members who were part of both critics organizations.
The CCA stated that “the HCA threat was empty,” but that they couldn’t ignore these allegations. It also pointed to “voting irregularities” in HCA’s own recent past, which that organization has admitted to, along with “evidence that we have that its awards voting can be influenced improperly.”
The HCA responded with its own statement on Thursday, denying the allegations while noting that it had told studios that talent being part of their ceremony presented an opportunity during a key awards voting period.
Last year, the HCA changed its name from the Hollywood Critics Association as it faced allegations of racial bias. The organization’s board president, Nikki Fowler, resigned at the time and alleged that the organization’s founder, Scott Menzel, had shown racial bias toward her and created a hostile work environment, as did others in the organization.
The move by the CCA to ban members from being part of both organizations was taken to protect both the CCA as an organization and to reassure the supporters of its awards programs, according to its message.
Read the full message sent to CCA members who were also in the HCA below:
Dear Critics Choice Association member,
We’re sending this email to inform you that the Critics Choice Association has instituted a new policy prohibiting members of the Hollywood Creative Alliance (formerly the Hollywood Critics Association, formerly the LA Online Film Critics Society) from maintaining membership in the Critics Choice Association. If you are currently a member of HCA and CCA, please let us know if you wish to remain a CCA member. This will require confirmation from you that you have successfully resigned from HCA and are no longer on the membership list as posted on its website.
The reason CCA has taken this action is that we have evidence that a representative of the HCA has improperly suggested to at least one studio (and we suspect more) that it could influence Critics Choice Awards voting in a way that led that studio to reach out to CCA and request that action be taken to protect the integrity of our awards. Of course, that HCA threat was empty, but CCA cannot ignore this. In light of HCA’s admitted voting irregularities in the recent past and evidence that we have that its awards voting can be influenced improperly, we are taking this action to protect our organization and to reassure everyone that supports our awards programs.
Please let [CCA representative] know when/if your HCA membership has been successfully ended.
THE BOARD
The news was first reported by the Hollywood Reporter.
