Scheduled to hold on January 10, 2022, the Golden Globes awards for years have traditionally marked the start of award season every year.

However, this year the award show has hit a few bumps; not only has it lost its prime placement on NBC, but a large percentage of the industry has opted to pretend it doesn’t exist. So what’s different about the 79th Golden Globe Awards? A Lot!

Once the prime Film and American Television award, the 2022 Golden Globe Awards will only have a few of its usual attendees. 

The award show scheduled for Sunday, January 9, 2021, at 6 P.M PT will have no press, red carpet, celebrity presenters, and, worse, no audience. While the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has said this was due to the COVID-19 Omicron variant surge, the truth is an award show without the press, and red carpet looks didn’t even happen. 

So how would it hold?

While the association is yet to confirm if the event will be live-streamed and on what platform as they have lost their NBC placement, chances are it probably will be. 

The award show will be attended by only “select members and grantees”, and they will be placed under several additional restrictions, including proof of vaccination, a booster shot and a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of the event. Guests are also required to be masked and socially distant at all times while in the ballroom.

The press release from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) makes no mention of a Livestream or any way to tune in. 

However, it notes that this year awards will spotlight HFPA’s charity work, unveiling its collaboration with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to “increase diversity, equity, and inclusion across the global entertainment industry.”

These changes come in light of the terrible press the award show has received that has placed it on a soft boycott. 

Who’ll host? 

We don’t know for sure, but one thing we can say is there’ll be no celebrity presenters this year. However, it is unclear if members of the association would host the event or if there might be a surprise celebrity appearance. 

Why all these changes?

One answer is simply bad press. The Golden Globe awards received a ton of bad news. The first of it was the revelation that none of the HFPA’s 87 members was black, and the association has not had any black members in two decades which caused a ton of backlash. In February 2021, The Los Angeles Times had reported that the organisation responsible for recruiting journalists internationally and deciding who receives the award had not admitted black members since 2002. 

Later in June 2021, the association was again hit by a scandal of unprofessionalism and low-level corruption after two members resigned, describing the organisation’s culture as one of “insulation, silence, fear of retribution, self-dealing, corruption and verbal abuse.” 

The final scandal was an inside one that focused on press-conference credentialing and the HFPA demanding more access than the Hollywood Establishment felt the members’ standing as journalists deserved.

However, the HFPA, it would seem, had made a few yet not so impressive attempts to fix this scandal. They have implemented a new code of conduct that features stricter ethical standards. The association has also inducted 21 new members, which it claims is its most diverse class of all time, which still falls behind its public goal of having 13 per cent Black membership by the 2022 ceremony.

Who was nominated? 

Impressively, despite the boycott and backlash, the 79th Golden Globe Awards includes exciting nominations. Belfast and The Power of the Dog led the film nominations, while Succession stands at number one for TV nominations. 

Despite the soft boycott, some nominated actors have publicly acknowledged their nominations, including Eugenio Derbez and Awkwafina, who posted the nominations for their respective films, CODA and Raya and the Last Dragon.

Would this set a precedent? 

Maybe, the truth is there is a much higher chance that the boycott of the Golden Globes will set a precedent for other award shows to do better, especially with representation and diversity.