In 2016, when Chinese journalist Wenting Xu joined the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group of international journalists that puts on the Golden Globes, she thought she had reached the pinnacle of her career. “I was over the moon,” she tells Vanity Fair. “It’s such a great organization, and it opens so many doors for journalists who are usually ignored by the domestic publicity team.”
But it wouldn’t take long for Xu to notice some issues with the powerful 87-member organization. “It started getting a little weird when some long-standing members started telling me some unwritten rules,” she says, revealing that she was told the first row of HFPA press conferences was reserved for older members, and that she was discouraged from asking questions to the bigger stars because the veteran members were given priority with talent. “At first, I respected that, but these unspoken rules and the resistance to getting new members was pretty appalling.” (Representatives for the HPFA were not immediately available for comment, but V.F. will update this story as it develops.)
She says that over the years, a small group of reform-minded members started proposing a plan to welcome in more members for the organization in an effort to better represent the younger generation. “It didn’t land anywhere,” says Xu. She says, around 2017, they also tried to get diversity and inclusion consultants to work with the HFPA, but that that proposal also fell on deaf ears.
“I have to admit that I was a very quiet bystander, probably for too long,” says Xu. “I saw all the problems, I decided not to say anything. I heard all the embarrassing questions being asked at our press conferences, especially towards female talent. I didn’t say anything. I was scared of retaliation.”
But now, Xu and fellow member Diederik van Hoogstraten, from the Netherlands, have resigned after their frustration with the organization reached a boiling point. In a letter sent June 17, the pair describe a culture of “corruption and verbal abuse,” adding that “the majority of the membership resists deep change, despite our lawyers and spokespersons suggesting otherwise publicly.”
Xu, who works as a columnist for China’s World Screen, made the decision to leave after months of trying to push for real change following a February Los Angeles Times article that revealed that the organization had no Black journalists, and cited a long list of other issues, including allegations of racism, ethical conflicts, and unprofessional behavior that raised questions about the legitimacy of the organization. Major PR firms, Time’s Up and studios like Netflix, Amazon and WarnerMedia chimed in, demanding swift and significant change within the organization. In May, NBC announced it would not broadcast the 2021 ceremony.
Since then, the HFPA has announced planned changes, including admitting new members, with a focus on adding Black journalists, and “a goal of increasing the membership by 50% over the next 18 months.” They stated that they will also loosen the requirements for journalists to join the organization, which will open it up to more members, along with requiring all current members to adhere to a new code of conduct. The HFPA members are scheduled to vote on the new amendments in July.
But Xu says that within the organization “there is more resistance to change than I ever expected, and the lack of transparency from the membership was appalling.” In March, she sent a letter to the HFPA pushing for more transparency around the organization’s reform efforts, as well as faster and more sweeping change. She says she felt things were falling apart beyond hope when famed fixer Judy Smith and Dr. Shaun Harper, a USC professor, who were hired in March to consult on the diversity and inclusion issues within the group, suddenly left. “The question is what went wrong in those meetings that membership did not attend? Why did they leave? No one gave us the answer,” says Xu.
Xu says she and a handful of other reform-minded members spent the past few months trying to get answers to that question and many others, and found themselves ostracized—shut out of meetings and not informed about the board’s decisions. “I know leaving, to the members, might sound like a betrayal and a very cowardly action. However, our goal is to put more pressure on the HFPA and hopefully it will speed up the real reform this organization really needs,” she says.
Xu and van Hoogstraten are considering starting a separate organization for international journalists covering entertainment in Los Angeles. She says those plans are in a very early stage, but would include “journalists who were rejected by the HFPA for decades—they deserve a place.” She adds that she and van Hoogstraten have not heard directly from anyone at the HFPA since sending their resignation letter. The HFPA did release a statement, which stated, “At a time when the overwhelming majority of our members have chosen to be a part of change, it is disappointing that some members have decided to try and splinter our organization and sow division and doubt.”