Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo join voices blasting the Golden Globes over diversity issues
Film Features Golden Globes
The massive backlash against the Hollywood Foreign Press Association—which presumably thought that it was pulling itself, and its Golden Globes awards ceremony, out of hot water with a new reform package it passed yesterday–has now progressed to the point that specific stars have started going after the 87-journalist body. Per Deadline, Marvel actors Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson have both gone on the offensive against the group this weekend, joining a rising series of voices that include Times Up, a coalition of more than 100 Hollywood PR firms, GLAAD, Amazon Studios, and Netflix.
“Honestly, as a recent winner of a Golden Globe, I cannot feel proud or happy about being a recipient of this award,” Ruffalo said in a statement last night, referencing his win for last year’s I Know This Much Is True. “It’s discouraging,” Ruffalo added, “To see the HFPA, which has gained prominence and profited handsomely from their involvement with filmmakers and actors, resist the change that is being asked of them from many of the groups that have been most disenfranchised by their culture of secrecy and exclusion.” Ruffalo’s comments mirror those from Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and many others, pretty much all of whom have condemned the organization’s stated plan to expand its membership rolls over the next 18 months as too little, too late. (The HFPA came under heavy criticism earlier this year when a Los Angeles Times report highlighted the fact that, of the less than 100 journalists that make it up, not a single one was Black.)
Johansson, meanwhile, issued a call today to “step back” from the HFPA, calling it “an organization that was legitimized by the likes of Harvey Weinstein to amass momentum for Academy recognition.” As with others, she highlighted the often uncomfortable press conferences that are typically required of anyone seeking Golden Globe recognition, noting that, “In the past, this has often meant facing sexist questions and remarks by certain HFPA members that bordered on sexual harassment. It is the exact reason why I, for many years, refused to participate in their conferences.” (Johansson has been nominated by the Golden Globes five times, most recently for Marriage Story.)
Ali Sar, president of the HFPA, issued a statement of his own last night, responding to the Netflix letter with promises that the body is working to address its problems, and calling for an “open dialogue” rather than outright condemnation. None of which appears to have stemmed the tide of people speaking out about the group; it remains to be seen just how radically the Golden Globes will have to change themselves in order to make up for their past failings in the eyes of the numerous industry entities they need to stay on the right side of.
102 Comments
This is all part of Obama’s master plan to make white people the minority. – Kelly949, Laguna Niguel CA, United States, 2014
Thank you for keeping this up all these years.
I would like to ask Kelly why she is so against being a minority?
IKR?I mean: why? Aren’t minorities treated like, you know, rich white people? (You may of course delete the rich if you wish.)
My dad lives in Laguna Niguel, can confirm this represents the opinion of at least 90% of the people that live there.
Fitting that Johansson spoke up; it is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, after all.
Also Pride Month is in June…
Emma Stone should be next.
She shouted “Sorry!” from the audience, so she’s good.
Is Scarlett Johansson even Russian?
They don’t want to make Mark Ruffalo angry. They wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.
But he’s always angry.
I am once again asking for someone to explain to me how he can always be angry, but not always be the Hulk.
No idea, I just wanted to say the movie line.
But he’s always angry?
Not anymore. He put the brains and the brawn together. The best of both worlds. He’s Mark ‘have some tacos’ Ruffalo.
I appreciate this so much more since I binged the Avengers movies yesterday.
“Why are you repeating what I say?”
The joke flew right over your head. Google it.
I’d, uhh, also like to point out the anger-management issues of that particular actor.
I like Mark but sometimes it’s weird when he comments on the capitalist structure of America while also participating in that very vast disparity. But better than not commenting I guess.
Every time I get mad Colin Jost is banging Scarjo, I just remember he is getting Woody Allen’s sloppy seconds.
You may want to flag & dismiss the dipshit Fake Lizardo in your replies. Looks like a couple people didn’t realize that’s the smoothbrained racist troll, and pulled it out of the grey.
wow so original. must have taken hours to come up with that one.
Fuck all y’all. I ride for ScarJo.
Found Jost’s burner!
You joke, but Jost strikes me as the type who totally would have “bard” in his avatar name.
It’s Che’s burner…
I live in New York, and one time I saw Colin Jost while crossing the street, but then I realized it might’ve just been a white guy.(This has the cadence of a joke but it was my actual thought process at the time.)
She’s said some dumb stuff but she is a great actor.
When Scarlett Johansson says you’re not sensitive enough about racial issues, it’s time to take a good hard look at yourself. It’s like that guy who got taken to rehab by Charlie Sheen.
Now that is a low point.
It was RDJ, wasn’t it?
“Return of Da Jedi”?
Pretty sure it was. Although to be fair RDJ was seriously messed up for quite awhile.
According to an old Carrie Fisher interview, John Belushi once told Carrie to take it easy with the coke.
Every time I get mad Colin Jost is banging Scarjo, I just remember he is getting Woody Allen’s sloppy seconds.
OMG, you’re right!Even Mrs. Colin Jost notices you’ve got a racial problem —
This duo isn’t diverse enough for me to take seriously.
This is all well and good, but I think the real question on everyone’s lips is, can you get a good night’s rest from Caliper CBD?
Is this just talk or is it something that actually means something? Like are Johansson and Ruffalo actually going to stop going the Golden Globe awards shows? If they get a nomination, are they going to say “thanks but no thanks”? Are they going to tell their famous friend to do the same? Are they going to stop doing interviews with HFPA members?
I’d imagine a lot of that will come down to their contractual obligations with regard to movie promotion.
Our noble celebs have had a very tough year and they (with the help of agents and ‘advisors’) are doing any and everything they can to keep us talking about them; or just looking at them, at the very least. And these two specimens aren’t getting any younger. ‘Acting’ isn’t a secure career choice, by any stretch. The ones who pose as ‘liberal’ are also the ones whose money managers and stock brokers likely vote republican.
Sure, they probably will. Boycotting the Globes isn’t like boycotting the Oscars.
Boycotting showing up for the awards is one thing, but being in a movie where you are a contender and saying do not even consider nominating me could hurt their chances for other awards like an Oscar.
I would assume if they said don’t nominate me for a Golden Globe, the Oscars voting body would still be racing to nominate them to show how progressive they are by comparison. So they can look good for doing… exactly what they would’ve done anyway.
Can they really stop a nomination? Like could they just refuse to be nominated? I’m curious how that works.As for real action to get the HFPA to make meaningful changes, they’re a bunch of starfuckers, don’t show up to their parties and they will desperately enact actual changes.More importantly, the HFPA is a bullshit organization so nothing of value would be lost if it died.
Can they really stop a nomination? Like could they just refuse to be nominated? I’m curious how that works.They’d have to iron that out with a film’s/series producers and financial backers, since they handle the nominations – which is why you get nominees based solely on recognition (like Taika Waititi for voice performance in a year where BoJack Horseman had its final season) or bullshit like the main stars both getting “supporting actor” noms.Most choose not to do that because the nominations are really for the benefit of the studios and producers, and making a show of that would only hurt your future acting prospects. George C. Scott famously refused to do any promo, said many times that he boycotts the Oscars because they pit actors against each other and even informed the Academy weeks before the ceremony that he’s not gonna accept an award for Patton nor even attend so they shouldn’t bother.Once it’s done and you do get an award, it’s entirely at the discretion of the award committee itself. The actors who refused their Oscars didn’t have them redacted or anything, and even if you send them back you still don’t get the credit removed, you just don’t have a thing to put on the shelf. Hell, Dudley Nichols sent his Oscar back twice in protest and it got sent back to him.
Ahh yes, the most forgettable of all the marvel cast
I don’t have the faintest idea what the HFPA does. In any event, I just don’t care. It has no Black members? So what? Should it? What about other ethnicities? I read the Hollywood elites kicked up a fuss because a former president of the org called the BLM movement a ‘racist hate movement’. So? At least these people know what’s really going on. Oh, wait; I forgot. The truth has become treason and we are supposed to be outraged.This whole thing sounds like more elite virtue signaling.
Is it just me, or would the world be a lot better if we just canceled “awards” like these? It’s not like people are incapable of deciding for themselves which actors and movies they like.
Cancel, burn down the venues, and seize all the awards and melt them into a statue of a giant, raised fist.
Or better yet, a finger. 🖕
I want to cancel ALL of the awards.And only in part because throughout my lifetime and travels I have met several dozens of extremely talented folks whose works would have blown our collective world’s minds. But they just didn’t have that magic ingredient: Luck (and, yeah, money and influence). ALL of the shit that we celebrate – in our own time – is only a few steps above mediocre.
If they cancel the awards maybe they can still broadcast a 15-minute intro by Tina Fey and Amy Pohler, or Ricky Gervais. Those bits have been the most enduring moments from recent shows.
They might get people to watch Minari though. God I loved Minari.
Well, the upside to the Golden Globes most years is us regular folk getting the chance to watch celebrities get hammered (open bar, seated at tables) and cut loose.
My understanding is the Oscars are little different. Back stage is like an open bar party, and they have people to come fill seats for the ones that go up on stage. So you go on stage, pick up a metal dude, go back stage and get hammered while they take it away from you to go get engraved and people take pictures of you.
Yep, pretty much, Douglas.I meant the Golden Globes b/c that’s who’s got the target painted on their backs now….
I think things would be alot better if celebs like these didn’t try to pretend like shallow virtue signalling about awards politics bullshit matters to anything when actual voter suppression is happening and they could focus on getting involved with that instead. But that would be too real. Easier to threaten not to show up to glam parties, and still their pats on the back.
How would they get “involved” in voter suppression? They have way more control over organizations in their own industries than they do over legislatures.
All the money the Oscars saved in not having awards can go to help the struggling workers that belong to the various entertainment guilds. I think eventually The Oscars are going to be on cable or streaming. Network tv is just going to be sports, news, and old shows.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve all lost interest in any of these showbiz awards. It just seems like a bunch of rich kids wrestling each other to be made the King and Queen of the prom, and every year there’s more articles about who should have been nominated and who should won than there are about the people who actually received the award, as if it’s even possible to say such a thing about something that’s so arbitrary. All I’m really missing when I don’t watch is hot women in nice dresses.
“It’s not like people are incapable of deciding for themselves which actors and movies they like.”
Speak for yourself. Every time I finish watching a movie or TV show, I come here to see if I was supposed to have liked it.
I guess it takes all kinds of critters to make farmer Vincent’s fritters.
and i wonder who are all these people backing cancel culture…and there you are. its you!
Yup. Me!
I have no problem giving awards. Receiving recognition for good work is something that happens in all industries, not just Hollywood. It’s just weird that they have to lobby for them and that the groups giving them out primarily want to give them to white, straight folks.
I completely agree. It’s just the culture behind these “awards” that’s rather corrupt. It’s always the way.
How courageous of them. They deserve an award!
The Globes are the Fredo Corleone of awards season anyway; theyre a joke even within The Family.
and they break your heart.
The Globes used to be the anti-Oscars, what with everyone getting drunk at the tables and making hilarious acceptance speeches. Then they really started taking themselves seriously, lost all perspective, and the fun times were over.
[Insert ‘Saving Face’ Meme Gif]
As much as an abysmal $#$& show these award ceremonies were this past season, you can expect them to reach even yet a whole new level of low ratings come next year. These people amazingly don’t realize that they make themselves more and more irrelevant with each time they open their mouths.
Maybe they should try giving the Golden Globe to a book!
It’s always been kinda weird the esteem that Hollywood has given to the Globes when you consider the small pool of people that are responsible for handing the awards out.
I think it stems from Hollywood’s decades old insecurity about American cinema as an art form. The HFPA’s power comes the perception that European cinema is art and the Hollywood is a cinematic industry. This has in turn allowed the foreign press to feel like they are in some way the gate keepers between art and commerce.
It’s interesting that Hollywood is trying to make them reform instead of just ignoring them all together and getting behind the Spirit Awards.
I guess that the free wine at the Globes is worth saving the endeavor all together.
That’s the problem in dealing with foreigners… not enough… diversity?Hot take; african american political issues are less important to err, actual africans, than the former would like.
The Golden Globes are unimportant. I wish that influence and protest were used for something more meaningful.
Unimportant to us, but it’s different for workers in the industry. Whoever wins awards can then demand higher pay. If the award-givers don’t include any black people – for decades! – then surely there’s a bias in who gets the higher pay.
I am a worker in the industry and don’t deny the value of any action that facilitates more diversity. But I’d also like to see actors put some of that energy behind, for example, protecting union rights for everyone. That also helps me as a member of the industry and has a direct positive effect for the public as well.
Union rights don’t get Black journalists into the HFPA. You’re worried about what helps you, but everything isn’t about you.
Union rights don’t get Black journalists into the HFPA. You’re worried about what helps you, but everything isn’t about you.Wow. What a remarkable sentiment. You do realize you are on a site that has been fighting to have union representation for years? And that commenters regularly use their headers to express support for a GMG union? And that journalists across the entire country are fighting for union rights for themselves? Why don’t you ask William Hughes, author the article we are discussing, whether he thinks supporting union rights for everyone is a good idea or a selfish one. Please get back to me with his response.
I have no problem with supporting union rights, and your response demonstrates that you didn’t understand my comment at all. I’ll choose to assume that’s because I was unclear, so let me restate. You have more than once said that the fight for minority inclusion in the HFPA is meaningless and unimportant and that people should fight for union rights instead. I’m saying that those are two different issues, and while you might prefer them to fight for union rights because that would help you, the Black journalist who has never been invited to the HFPA and is missing out on that credential does not think that inclusion is meaningless or unimportant. The point is that people can fight for more than one thing. If union rights are important to you, feel free to fight for them, but don’t try to steal support from Black people or declare their issues meaningless.
ElectricSheep, I’m not only a worker in the entertainment industry, I’m a black worker in the entertainment industry. Unions aren’t perfect, but it’s precisely this perspective that has shown me their value in promoting the opportunity and access of black workers including journalists.The Golden Globes is a boondoggle that shouldn’t exist at all, and doesn’t seem likely too in its current configuration, both because of their lack of inclusion and also because the industry has always hated the organization that owns and runs it. It’s decisions we’re always arbitrary and it’s membership dubious. The sole reason it achieved any credibility was that it was a highly rated event, not because it had rigorous standards or criterion. Half a dozen other awards would be happy to take its place.
Well it looks like next year’s awards have been cancelled, so you got your wish in that regard. Again, I have zero problem with unions, or promoting unions, or using resources to fight for unions. So I’m not arguing with you that unions are useful. And if you are frustrated that more isn’t being done to promote unionization in the entertainment industry, then that’s fair enough. And I certainly have no particular love for the HFPA. I don’t even watch awards shows. I just have a problem with people directing others where to spend/use their resources. I’m not trying to be an asshole. It helps that you’re Black; I am too, and one thing I see a lot of and hate is white people diminishing work being done to increase access for Black people because they’d rather have it go towards saving whales or something (not that I’m against whales either), but if you say more resources being spent on unionization would help Black journalists get into the HFPA (for as long as it has left) then then I’ll trust you more than most of the other commenters on here.
I appreciate you sharing your point of view. My intention is not to tell people what to do, but to make people aware of a different perspective on where the industry’s priorities could be. Mark Ruffalo and Scarlet J aren’t likely to see my comments but their fans might. I understand and respect your desire for inclusion as genuine and valid.My opinion is subjective of course, and in the final analysis no more important than anyone else’s. But what is certainly true is that the GG is an eccentric cottage industry that would not be a thing if Harvey Weinstein hadn’t decided to make it important in the ‘90s. It is eminently replaceable.I’m glad the industry is getting tough with the HFPA, but I also know that few in the industry ever liked the HFPA. And, imo, the impact on inclusion is not as great as could be achieved by action in other areas. And that’s all I’m trying to express. I don’t disrespect the people who are standing up to the globes, I just wish that influence could be applied elsewhere.
Black people want the same right to be included in unimportant things as white people, though. That sounds like a joke, but I’m serious.
Netflix who’s logo colours and name is literally the Nazi Swastika and the collaborationist Gendarmerie in Occupied France rounding up Jews in Drancy for extermination at Auschwitz Concentration Camp joined in criticism of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association who’s only reason for existing is to embody the ethos and attitudes of prewar expat American writers in Paris saying “Boy howdy there sure are a lot of niggers and kikes here maybe someone should do something about that and yowza just look at the gazongas on the broad in that painting!” in criticism of them for being just a little too bigoted and sexist even for Hollywood by a Scandinavian kike lesbo whore and a fucking yid Polack! do tell Ms. Johansson and Mr. Ruffalo what is your opinion on the ethics of subscribing to Netflix and Amazon and making the American Nazi Party and Jeff Bezos richer? our readers want to know!
She says she won’t participate, but does so anyway…
Every time I get mad Colin Jost is banging Scarjo, I just remember he is getting Woody Allen’s sloppy seconds.
So Mark still accepted his GG award. He could have pulled a George C. Scott or Brando Oscar move.
The Scarlett backlash that came from doing movies like ghost in a shell and trying to get movies made about important lgbtq figures is completely unwarranted…Americans are becoming increasingly too online forgetting things like there are adaptations in art/media in every country… (she was playing a robot with no ethnicity the creator of the manga chose her to play the character…white otakus who live in their parent’s basements started complaining on Twitter about not having a big boobed Japanese actress in the lead role and the media caught on and started writing thinking pieces) … *I mean where was this hate only two years prior for Emily blunt and Tom cruise? The rub and tug movie was going to have an almost all lgbtq case but could only get funding with Scarlett producing/starring…
Trans folk are excluded from acting roles on a daily basis. The abundance of roles for cis folk are legion, they are why Johanssen is a big star at a level no trans person has ever achieved. So marginalized that they haven’t even been able, in the past, to get cast as themselves in movies centered on their stories. Excluded from the storytelling, excluded from the work, excluded from the accolades, excluded from the profits. Trans folk should be able to portray their own stories, bringing their own lived experiences to the role.
But, I hear you say, what about all those LGBTQ folks that would have played second fiddle to ScarJo? What about the financing? First of all, if ScarJo were doing it because she’s so selflessly dedicated to LGBTQ issues, she could have stayed on with the production as a producer and in another role. But she wasn’t interested in helping, she was only interested in them as a way for her exploit their identity as Oscar bait. The hook wasn’t “let tell a trans story” is was “hey everybody, come see ScarJo act like a trans person. Isn’t it weird? She’s like, the sexiest woman alive and she acting like a man! So weird right? Remember how Jared Leto won an Oscar for this shit?” There’s a PT Barnum flavor to all.
And lastly, LGBTQ folk don’t need to kowtow the the misguided whim of every megastar who treats their identity as a commodity and nothing more. You never get change without demanding more. Would it have been easier to get Pose made with an all cis cast of established stars? Sure, but it’s so much better for having trans folk play trans folk play trans folk.
who cares. people should be able to play any character. its called acting for a reason
An absolutely insidious organization who’s voting body is clearly reflected in their awards. I mean, unlike the more diverse Academy, Chadwick Boseman and Andra Day actually WON in their respective acting categories. Clearly the HFPA has a problem…
“I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination…” Lyndon Baines JohnsonMarlon Brando and George C. Scott both rejected their Oscars (trademarked). Turn your backs on them, refuse the award and just walk away with the fortune offered. We’ll keep attending and voting with our dollars, right?
Mark Ruffalo is making some “bold stance”, must be a day of the week ending in Y.
On a related note, has MR ever worked with David Simon? The world needs Sean Penn, David Simon and Mark Ruffalo working on the same dour important work.
Why not just do away with the whole endeavor? The awards have always been a joke. Also, Sarandos a fucking hypocrite. It was pretty clear that Netflix bought their way into a nod for Emily In Paris. Oh yeah: “According to a pretty damning report in the L.A. Times, Paramount flew more than 30 members of the HFPA to Paris for an Emily in Paris set visit. They stayed at a 5-star hotel that costs $1,400 per night and were quite literally wined and dined.”
so they are in favor of FORCED diversity? thats not diversity. thats a quota. which is actaully racist as well but its white folk so i guess we are not the spokespeople for diversity LOL hollywood is such a f’n cesspool
I hadn’t even considered the Globes’ connection with Harvey Weinstein. BARF.