The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has added 215 new international voters to its voting body ahead of the 81st Golden Globe Awards.
The move comes as part of the embattled organization’s continued diversity efforts following the 2021 Los Angeles Times exposé that led to widespread criticism of the HFPA over its demographics and allegations of awards campaign misconduct.
With a voting body that now totals 310, including its current 95 members, the move surpasses its previous pledge to increase the body’s size and diversity. In a demographics breakdown received by TheWrap on Monday, the 310 voters are 25% Latinx, 14% Asian, 10% Black, 9% Middle Eastern and 42% white. At least 17% of the voting body self-identifies as LGBTQIA+, the HFPA said in a release, and it represents a total of 76 countries, including newly added countries like Cameroon, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Serbia and Tanzania.
“We have exceeded our goal of reaching 300 voters for the upcoming 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards thanks to an extensive global recruitment effort,” Helen Hoehne, president of the HFPA, said in a statement. “We are excited at the unprecedented achievement in building a truly global voting body where 58 percent self-identify as ethnically diverse.”
“The efforts put forth to identify, engage, and actively recruit diverse voters is strong evidence of the commitment by the Golden Globes to follow through on its promises to expand and reshape itself,” Neil Phillips, the HFPA’s chief diversity officer, said. “It shows that with the right leadership, effective community partnerships and an unwavering focus, we can achieve remarkable and transformational diversity growth.”
As TheWrap previously reported, the HFPA missed its voter diversity goal by a third going into the 80th Golden Globes. The 215 international voters added this year doubles the effort of 103 additions in 2022. These voters, however, are not HFPA members and come in addition to the 95 current voting members cited by the organization in its release. While nonmembers of the HFPA, they are recruited to cast ballots in an attempt to make the voting body larger and more diverse.
In its release on Monday, the HFPA shared that the criteria for international voters mandates all voters possess verified work samples as an entertainment journalist and reside outside of the United States. “These applications were reviewed and qualified by the Credentials Committee, which is composed of a majority of outside independent journalism and entertainment industry professionals,” the release read.
The 81st Golden Globe Awards will take place Jan. 7, 2024.
