Scarlett Johansson Wants the Golden Globes to Be More Diverse, Like the Movie Roles She Takes

Scarlett Johansson isn’t a trans woman of color, but she plays one in movies. This is why she’s very concerned that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the body behind the Golden Globes, isn’t diverse enough.

Now, the HFPA started as a group of foreign journalists who covered Hollywood for publications outside the United States, which is what you’d expect something called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to be. Today, that doesn’t seem to be the case and the 86-member “non-profit” is primarily in the business of giving out Golden Globes, getting paid to air the Golden Globes ceremony, not doing journalism and, well, the old saying is “You win an Oscar, you buy a Golden Globe.”

After the LA Times investigated the organization and its membership, all of Hollywood is outraged. They’re not exactly a hard target here, there’s less than a hundred people and they basically have no power other than to give out trophies they made up. My high school principle did that at assembly once a year, too, and no one kissed his ass for it.

ScarJo has taken the opportunity to shoot a fiery salvo at the organization, with The Guardian reporting she said that dealing with the HFPA “has often meant facing sexist questions and remarks by certain HFPA members that bordered on sexual harassment.”

She also said “Unless there is necessary fundamental reform within the organization, I believe it is time that we take a step back from the HFPA,” which is a really good point. Why have you given these people, these 86 people, all this money and power? Because you want to get little statues with your name on?

There are stores that make trophies, you know. You can just go out and buy a trophy if you need one that badly, and it’s probably cheaper than “winning” a Golden Globe.

That’s part of the reason Netflix and Amazon aren’t working with the group anymore. They’re framing it as putting pressure on the group to add more diverse membership (seriously, there’s not one black person in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association? You didn’t know they have newspapers in Africa?), but no one cares about awards shows anymore and it’s not because of lack of diversity, it’s lack of relevancy. Netflix and Amazon loved the HFPA and the Oscar voters (nearly 10,000, basically anyone who has worked on a film in a category they give awards for is eligible) when they wanted to establish themselves as serious players in the field of film and television, but they don’t need the statues anymore. We’ve all heard about Mrs. Maisel without it winning an award.

You know what would happen if the Golden Globes went away? Nothing, it’s not even the G in EGOT. Hollywood would survive with a slimmed-down 37 annual awards shows, I’m sure.