HFPA CEO Confirms Plan to Make the Golden Globes a For-Profit Venture, Add 200 Non-Member Voters
thewrap.comadding 200 new non-member voters and turning the nonprofit into a private, for-profit company that he himself would run. The purpose of these proposals would be to end near-endless criticism of the scandal-ridden HFPA, accused of corruption, self-dealing and lack of diversity, and to share the profits of the organization with the freelance journalists who are its members.
However, such a move might itself raise more questions about self-dealing and lack of transparency, as it would be highly unusual for a for-profit organization to dispense a respect award in Hollywood.
As TheWrap first reported last November, the hedge-fund billionaire seeks to end the HFPA’s longtime nonprofit 501(c)6 status and sell its assets to a new company that his own Eldridge Industries would create and run, according to a copy of the proposal obtained by TheWrap.
Boehly presented it to the HFPA members on Thursday after an initial meeting on April 4. When asked about a plan to take the HFPA private last year, a spokesman for the HFPA denied there were such discussions, telling a reporter who asked if there was “a live proposal for Todd Boehly to merge the HFPA with his commercial interests” that this was “false reporting.” “I don’t know who you’re sources are (sic) but this is false reporting,” James Lee told TheWrap.
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