The exiled voting body alleges PMC orchestrated a malicious corporate scheme to operate the Golden Globes without funneling money to a handful of retired European travel bloggers.
The rollout of Penske Media Corporation's revamped Golden Globes has hit a legal speed bump, with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association filing a bombshell complaint Tuesday over the unceremonious dismantling of its 80-year-old celebrity extortion racket.
In a sprawling 42-page suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the remnants of the voting body accuse PMC of executing a "calculated corporate coup." The filing alleges that PMC swooped in to acquire the Globes assets under the guise of salvaging the broadcast from a catastrophic diversity scandal, only to maliciously restructure the organization so it could run a profitable awards telecast without bribing the people who invented it.
It sends a chilling message to the entire town when a holding company can just buy a legacy IP and ruthlessly eliminate the middlemen who get paid to take blurry selfies with Ryan Gosling.
The lawsuit outlines untold millions in lost personal revenue, specifically pointing to the sudden, devastating halt of all-expenses-paid studio junkets to Paris. Reps for the exiled voting body argue the deal violated the HFPA’s deeply held mandate to demand free luxury hotel stays from Netflix in exchange for nominal awards season buzz, while entirely evaporating the group's ability to derail a major theatrical release over a perceived seating slight at the Beverly Hilton.
A source close to the PMC executive suite dismissed the suit as "background noise," noting that the surviving HFPA members have already been offered a generous severance package. The exit deal reportedly consists of three leftover Emily in Paris promotional tote bags and a complimentary first-look screening link to a cancelled Apple TV+ series.