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   From: nigger-lovers@disney.com   
      
   EXCLUSIVE: (UPDATED WITH HFPA RESPONSE) As the beleaguered   
   Hollywood Foreign Press Association pledges to reform itself,   
   Netflix has declared that its will not be working with the   
   Golden Globes group until it gets its act together, to put it   
   mildly.   
      
   “Like many in our industry, we’ve been waiting for today’s   
   announcement in the hope that you would acknowledge the breadth   
   of issues facing the HFPA and provide a clear roadmap for   
   change,” the streamer’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote in a letter   
   Thursday to the HFPA’s Leadership Committee that Deadline has   
   obtained.   
      
   The correspondence from the top exec came on May 6 after around   
   75 of the insular HFPA’s 86 members voted for an inclusion and   
   overhaul proposal the group’s board put forth at the beginning   
   of this week. The HFPA has been scrambling since it was revealed   
   just before February 28’s semi-virtual Golden Globes that the   
   freewheeling group had zero Black members. Amid a series of   
   stumbles and critiques since, the HFPA saw racially offensive   
   remarks from a former president and newly minted Diversity and   
   Inclusion advisor Dr. Shaun Harper and fixer supreme/Scandal   
   inspiration Judy Smith both resign in frustration last month.   
      
   In that context and under pressure from Comcast-owned NBC, which   
   televises the Globes, the HFPA was hoping this week would be   
   when things started to turn around. They may have been a bit too   
   optimistic.   
      
   “Today’s vote is an important first step,” Sarandos noted in   
   Thursday’s letter to HFPA brass. “However, we don’t believe   
   these proposed new policies — particularly around the size and   
   speed of membership growth — will tackle the HFPA’s systemic   
   diversity and inclusion challenges, or the lack of clear   
   standards for how your members should operate.   
      
   “So we’re stopping any activities with your organization until   
   more meaningful changes are made.”   
      
   “We know that you have many well-intentioned members who want   
   real change — and that all of us have more work to do to create   
   an equitable and inclusive industry,” Sarandos added in   
   conclusion. “But Netflix and many of the talent and creators we   
   work with cannot ignore the HFPA’s collective failure to address   
   these crucial issues with urgency and rigor.”   
      
   While calibrated and parsed, Sarandos’ letter putting the HFPA   
   on notice and turning off the journo-run nonprofit’s tap to one   
   of the biggest sources of talent and content has to hit where it   
   hurts.   
      
   Or, let’s translate that into raw math for the annual Globes   
   ceremony, which NBC pays $60 million a year to air: Netflix   
   dominated this year’s Golden Globes nominations among studios   
   and streamers with 42 overall and came away with six wins — four   
   for its drama series The Crown, along with wins for The Queen’s   
   Gambit and Chadwick Boseman’s performance in Ma Rainey’s Black   
   Bottom. That total was triple the wins from any other   
   distributor at the HFPA’s 78th annual event.   
      
   Netflix declined to comment when contacted by Deadline about   
   Sarandos’ letter, or other discussions with the HFPA.   
      
   The HFPA did respond (eventually), in their own way.   
      
   “We hear your concerns about the changes our association needs   
   to make and want to assure you that we are working diligently on   
   all of them,” current HFPA president Ali Sar wrote to Sarandos   
   later Friday. “We would love to meet with you and your team so   
   we can review the very specific actions that are already in the   
   works,” he added. “An open dialogue would help to ensure that we   
   are addressing these concerns as quickly as possible.” Sar then   
   went on to challenge several of Sarandos and Netflix’s claims   
   about the state of the organization and its reforms – Read the   
   full HFPA response below.   
      
   In other conversations over the past few days and in an addendum   
   to Sarandos’ letter, Netflix has advocated that the HFPA adopted   
   a definable set of awards-season rules and a clear and immediate   
   code of ethics, I hear. Unlike the current nonplussed attitude   
   the HFPA takes, with press conferences closely connected to   
   Globes nominations, gifts, member selfies, and other grifter-ish   
   methods, the streamer has suggested something similar to what   
   AMPAS and the TV Academy do. Such a written-down playbook of   
   sorts could begin to wash off the taint the HFPA has in terms of   
   transparency and governance.   
      
   Accordingly, Netflix has also recommended that diversity and   
   inclusion be part of the 78-year-old group’s mission statement   
   as part of a commitment to the process of an HFPA that looks   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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