Late Wednesday, the head of the Critics Choice Association, Joey Berlin, sent a message to members of the organization who were critical of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the disastrous Golden Globe Awards that aired this past weekend.
The Critics Choice Association has its own awards this Sunday from 7pm to 7pm ET / PT on The CW. The Berlin message on Wednesday was in part to assure members of his organization that “the 26th annual Critics Choice Award will be completely different from the Globes – just as our Critics Choice Association differs from the HFPA.”
One can understand why.
Not only was Golden Globes the lowest rated ever this past weekend, but experts like the Deadline’s own Joe Utichi wonder if the HFPA and its show are even correctable.
Related story
Golden Globes ratings fall to NBC’s lowest in final numbers – update
While the HFPA consists of a secret roster of 90 foreign – very foreign – overseas journalists, Berlin is sad that its organization is not only transparent but also diverse. “We proudly display our membership list on our website with photos, which clearly show our diversity. There are black and Asian and Latinx names and faces – men and women, young and old – that represent virtually every state and major city in the US and Canada and some small towns. ”
He also pointed to the ‘very diverse nominations’ of this year, a lack of which was another criticism of the HFPA’s Globe Noms this year.
What’s more, he writes, “Our range of presenters is even better than that of the Globes.”
Here is Berlin’s mission in its entirety:
‘We have always respected and admired the Golden Globes for hosting the Party of the Year, even if it was not the restrictive membership policy of the HFPA. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the HFPA from holding this party this year, and the Golden Globes broadcast that erupted on Sunday was ill-considered and poorly received.
This Sunday it’s our turn. And I promise you that the 26th annual Critics Choice Award will be completely different from the Globes – just as our Critics Choice Association differs from the HFPA. We proudly display our membership list on our website with photos, which clearly show our diversity. There are black and Asian and Latinx names and faces – men and women, young and old – that represent virtually every state and major city in the US and Canada and some small towns.
Our far-reaching membership leads to a very diverse nomination. Some of the major movies and series we have nominated for Critics Choice Awards – and which the HFPA has largely overlooked – are “I May Destroy You”, “Da 5 Bloods”, “Judas and the Black Messiah”, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ”and” One Night in Miami. “
Like the Globes, we will have virtually all of our nominated artists participate in our show on Sunday night. Our series of presenters are even better than the Globes, including Kevin Bacon, Angela Bassett, Mayim Bialik, Phoebe Dynevor, Morgan Freeman, Gal Gadot, Jim Gaffigan, Chris Hemsworth, Jameela Jamil, Eva Longoria, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jared Padalecki, Kyra Sedgwick, Yara Shahidi, Courtney B. Vance, John David Washington and Catherine Zeta-Jones. But once the Critics Choice winner has been announced and all the nominees have responded, we will focus the full screen on the live acceptance speech, without returning uncomfortably to the other nominees. And we will present generous excerpts showcasing our nominated performances, a delight for audiences who can be inspired to discover movies and series they want to catch up on, without any deceptive promises from our executives to correct embarrassment in organizational flaws.
We were presented for the third year in a row by Taye Diggs and with our special See Her Award given to Zendaya, we hope and expect that our 26th annual Critics Choice Awards will be the best ever. And as the world returns to normal in the coming months, we will continue to shine our light on the best that the creative community can offer during our Critics Choice Real TV Awards, Critics Choice Documentary Awards and Critics Choice Super Awards. Last month, we brought our third annual Black Cinema celebration to a national audience for the first time, advocating our dedication to the widest range of popular entertainment.
We hope that all members of the CCA will do what they can to their viewers, listeners, readers and followers that there will be a very special awards show on The CW Sunday night – OUR show. This is the consensus of more than 400 people covering film and television every day. The Critics Choice Awards are culturally important – and it’s going to be a lot of fun. We hope you will be very proud. ”