The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which ran the awards show until a couple of years ago, has voted to investigate the deal that sold the event to a joint venture.
In 2023, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was declared dead. The organization, which oversaw the annual Golden Globes awards, was sold to a joint venture after a series of scandals led to its 2022 telecast being canceled.
But the association never really went away, because the deal has not been officially approved by California’s attorney general. This week, in a startling change of events, members of the semi-disbanded association, around 77 foreign journalists, are trying to take matters into their own hands, wrest back oversight of the awards show and reinvigorate their charitable foundation.
The journalists, who still vote annually for the awards show but are not involved in the for-profit company that now runs the splashy telecast, voted on Monday to formally reconstitute their association and to open a full investigation into the sale. That vote was earlier reported by The Ankler, a site that covers the industry. The group also voted to investigate the two-year old sale.
The Golden Globes are now run by Penske Media Eldridge, the joint venture owned by Jay Penske and Todd Boehly that bought the organization in 2023. Mr. Penske owns the majority of the Hollywood trade papers and the SXSW film festival. Mr. Boehle, an investor in Penske Media, is also the chairman and co-owner of Chelsea F.C., and a part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Sparks and other sports teams. On Thursday, the press association voted to remove Helen Hoehne, the H.F.P.A’s president and director. She is also the president of the new, for-profit Golden Globes.
In a statement, members of the association said executives involved in the sale had engaged in “deeply troubling” conflicts of interest, misled members of the organization, blocked competing offers and silenced those members with nondisclosure agreements.
“The public is only hearing their version, not the full truth,” the statement said.
Penske Media Eldridge declined to comment. The office of the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, did not respond to requests to comment.
