<\/p>\n
Less than five years ago, the Golden Globes<\/a> were hanging by a thread. <\/p>\n In the wake of a Times investigation that exposed the group\u2019s self-dealing and ethical lapses<\/a> and a complete lack of Black representation among its membership<\/a>, NBC pulled the ceremony off the air as Netflix and Amazon Studios and more than 100 publicity agencies cut ties<\/a> with the embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. <\/p>\n It got so bad that Tom Cruise sent back his three Golden Globes<\/a> to the HFPA in protest, an act not quite on the level of Sean Penn\u2019s 2022 threat to smelt his Oscars<\/a>, though it grabbed headlines all the same. <\/p>\n But the Golden Globes have returned from the brink. The awards show, now run by Penske Media Eldridge, owned by Jay Penske and Todd Boehly, announced its latest slate of film and television nominations<\/a> Monday. And the coverage, led by trade publications owned by Penske, has contained little to no mention of the show\u2019s troubled past \u2014 or the controversies that continue to swirl around the ceremony, which will again air in January on CBS as part of a five-year broadcast deal signed in 2024. <\/p>\n So, yes, for all intents and purposes, the Golden Globes are back. But regarding ethical practices, today\u2019s for-profit Globes may well be worse than ever, crossing the line in ways that are more egregious than the shady maneuverings that put the awards on life support not so long ago. <\/p>\n As part of the show\u2019s rehabilitation, the Globes have expanded their voting pool to 300 people, including Black voters. Fifty of the original HFPA members were grandfathered into the group and offered an annual salary of $75,000. The Globes terminated that policy earlier this year<\/a>, calling the move \u201can acknowledgment that continuing to pay members could add to a perception of bias in voting.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard not to be skeptical of such principled reasoning in light of more recent events. In May, the Globes announced a new category for podcasts. A shortlist of 25 followed in October, selected by audio analytics company Luminate, which, surprise, is also owned by Penske Media. <\/p>\n The eligible titles ranged from Dax Shepard\u2019s \u201cArmchair Expert\u201d and Amy Poehler\u2019s \u201cGood Hang\u201d to political programs like \u201cPod Save America.\u201d Conservative commentators Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro, Theo Von and Candace Owens all made the shortlist. (Surprisingly, \u201cNew Heights,\u201d the popular podcast hosted by Jason Kelce and his brother Travis, the all-pro Kansas City Chiefs tight end engaged to singer Taylor Swift, was omitted. If the goal in creating the new award was to find a way to coax Swift into attending the ceremony, somebody forgot to save her a seat<\/a>.) <\/p>\n But the real motivation behind the podcast category became apparent soon afterward: money. Per the Ankler<\/a>, Penske-owned trade publication Variety had its sales team pitch nominated podcasts an array of paid marketing partnerships, including a $25,000 buy to become a Podcasting FYC Fest supporting partner and a $75,000 deal for the podcaster to be given the Variety Creative Impact Award in Podcasting. <\/p>\n With those prices, no wonder Luminate seems to have made popularity \u2014 and thus financial resources \u2014 a core criterion for eligibility. Plus, there was the hope that some of the 25 shortlisted shows would buy FYC ads in Variety and Penske\u2019s other trade publications, the Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, all of which rely on FYC dollars to keep the lights on. <\/p>\n How many bit? Shapiro is one prominent name, buying ads on Deadline and partnering with awards prediction website Gold Derby (yes, another Penske property) in a paid video interview with his podcast team<\/a>. (The stumping failed to pay off in the end: The final six nominees in the category were \u201cArmchair Expert,\u201d \u201cCall Her Daddy,\u201d \u201cGood Hang With Amy Poehler,\u201d \u201cThe Mel Robbins Podcast,\u201d \u201cSmartLess\u201d and \u201cUp First.\u201d)<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a money grab,\u201d says a veteran awards consultant, who asked not be identified in order to protect industry relationships. \u201cEverybody used to knock the Globes, but they were just goofy. … This is next level.\u201d<\/p>\n You want next level? How about Penske offering three pairs of Golden Globes tickets for $70,000 each via a \u201cconcierge gift guide\u201d in its luxury lifestyle magazine Robb Report? After the celebrity.land reported these shenanigans, the offer disappeared<\/a> on the publication\u2019s website. <\/p>\n Privately, there has been pushback. Publicly, not so much. We live in a culture at large where we\u2019ve come to accept flagrant corruption as the norm<\/a>, and Penske\u2019s Globes are just another example, skating through our collective numbness. <\/p>\n The Golden Globes have long been excused for their scandals and idiosyncratic membership and, of course, mocked for their irrelevance. Ricky Gervais dismissed them <\/a>as \u201cworthless,\u201d calling the award \u201ca bit of metal that some nice old confused journalists wanted to give you in person so they could meet you and have a selfie with you.\u201d<\/p>\n The membership has turned over, but the trophy\u2019s value is still inconsequential. <\/p>\n Yet the ceremony keeps on chugging along, remaining, in the view of filmmakers behind the sort of grown-up movie fare that\u2019s becoming an increasingly endangered species, an essential marketing platform. The January ceremony brought in 9.3 million viewers<\/a> \u2014 not Sunday Night Football numbers, but not shabby in this fragmented media landscape. <\/p>\n For one night, the thinking goes, movies like \u201cMarty Supreme,\u201d \u201cHamnet\u201d and \u201cSentimental Value\u201d (among this year\u2019s most-rewarded contenders) are celebrated and, perhaps, discovered. Studios still platform their films\u2019 expansion into more theaters on the weekend after the Globes ceremony. If you award it, the thinking goes, people will come. <\/p>\n