Golden Globes Will Hold In-Person Ceremony Sunday Without Stars, Audience or Press
Despite controversy, a boycott and now the specter of the Omicron strain’s COVID-19 surge, the Golden Globes will carry on.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association will proceed with the 79th Annual Golden Globes at an in-person ceremony on Sunday. But the ceremony will be held without any stars or celebrities in attendance, without an audience and without media. That means no nominees, no red carpet, no star presenters and no acceptance speeches from winners.
The awards show will be held in its traditional spot in the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton, but the only people coming to the show will be a select group of HFPA members and grantees that will be honored throughout the night. The HFPA plans to use the evening as a way to celebrate its grant recipients for the year, which includes representatives from groups the HFPA has donated to in the past.
All attendees are also expected to be vaccinated, boosted and receive a negative PCR test for COVID, and the limited guests will also be socially distanced throughout the ballroom.
No details were given regarding any plans to livestream the event.
Among the events during the ceremony, the NAACP’s SVP of its Hollywood Bureau will discuss the group’s new partnership with the HFPA called the “Reimagine Coalition,” in which the groups will partner on boosting diversity in entertainment and within the HFPA itself.
Earlier on Tuesday, Variety reported that the HFPA had inquired to several publicists about their clients participating with the show, but that no celebs agreed to take part.
The HFPA faced enormous backlash and an industry-wide boycott after allegations of corruption and self-dealing, as well as the revelation that the group had no Black members, leading NBC to pull out of broadcasting the show for 2022. Since then, the group of now 100 entertainment journalists has committed to sweeping changes and added 21 new members, six of whom are Black, among other reforms.
With a gap on the awards calendar where the Globes would have been broadcast, the Critics Choice Awards meant to swoop in and plan their own ceremony also for Sunday, but the spread of Omicron prompted the group to cancel its awards show and now leaves the HFPA’s slimmed-down ceremony uncontested.
This year, “The Power of the Dog” and “Belfast” led all the film nominees and also landed nominations for Best Motion Picture – Drama, while HBO’s “Succession” led all television nominees. You can see the full list of nominees here.
