The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has amended its bylaws to allow emeritus members of the HFPA to vote on the annual Golden Globes, as well as enshrine a proposal to allow a new pool of non-members to vote on the awards, TheWrap has learned.
Any active members and Emeritus members “in good standing” may participate in Golden Globes voting, according to a draft copy of the new bylaws obtained by TheWrap. There are currently 102 active members and three emeritus members — and the latter had not been allowed to vote on the Golden Globes, though could still attend press conferences or serve on committees, though none of the three currently do.
And as TheWrap previously reported, the new bylaws would also open up Globes voting beyond the current 102 active members to a select group of “other individual non-members as the Board of Directors may invite to participate from time-to-time.” Interim HFPA CEO Todd Boehly has proposed inviting approximately 200 non-member voters to nearly triple the total pool to 300 — a step designed to gain the support of Netflix as well as other studios, streamers and networks.
A rep for the HFPA did not comment on the bylaw amendments.
The new bylaw changes reverses changes that had been adopted with the HFPA’s bylaws that were approved last summer. At the time, TheWrap reported that Ropes and Gray, the law firm retained by the HFPA in the midst of its reform push last year, recommended that emeritus members not be allowed to vote. But some older HFPA members threatened to either resign or file an age discrimination lawsuit if the group sought to strip them of voting and paid travel privileges.
However, an individual with knowledge of the HFPA said that despite debate over the rule, the policy was adopted as part of the bylaws and that Ropes and Gray had no legal or tax objection to allowing emeritus members to vote. The bylaw changes made last year also included a provision that any future amendments to the bylaws could now be made by the board and do not require a vote from the entire membership except in certain cases. (The board also approved the voting privileges for non-members and emeritus members.)
The HFPA has struggled to win over Hollywood publicists, studios and networks who boycotted the group following a 2021 Los Angeles Times report that exposed the group’s history of self-dealing and lack of even a single Black member. The outcry led NBC to cancel the 2022 broadcast. The group responded by adding 21 new members (six of them Black), appointing a chief diversity officer and other reform efforts, but TheWrap also reported that the PR boycott remains in place.
