An email sent Sunday by a former Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. president criticizing Patrice Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter and comparing BLM to a hate group, has touched a firestorm among many members of the organization.
In the email, Phil Berk, who served eight terms as president of the HFPA, shared a report calling BLM a ‘racist hate movement’ and describing Cullors as’ the self-proclaimed ‘trained Marxist’. “It was sent to the members of the association, its staff and the group’s general counsel and chief operating officer, Gregory Goeckner.
The email ended up at a sensitive time for the HFPA, which came under pressure because they had no black members, as well as allegations of ethical and financial decay raised in a Times investigation into the group. Last month, the group behind the Golden Globe Awards pledged to bring about ‘transformation change’ and a strategic diversity adviser, Shaun Harper, a professor of racial, gender and LGBTQ issues at USC’s Marshall School of Business, and retained an external law firm, Ropes. & Gray, to audit and review its policies, membership requirements and regulations. The HFPA, which has reached out to the National Assn in recent weeks. of Black Journalists and NAACP plans to announce a set of reforms on May 6.
While Berk, 88, did not cite a source or provide a link to his email, it appears to be an article originally published under the headline ‘BLM Goes Hollywood’ based on conservative commentator David Horowitz’s Freedom Center website, FrontPage Mag, has appeared. , on 12 April.
In the article, Cullors bought a $ 1.4 million home in Topanga Canyon a year after “racial rioters burned buildings and terrorized communities.”
‘The house is next to the road of one of the houses involved in the Manson murders, which only seems appropriate since Manson wanted to start a racial war. And Black Lives Matter continues Manson’s work, ”reads the report.
This continues, in view of Cullors and other BLM activists and their alleged Hollywood connections. “The founders of BLM acted for acting, writing, consulting and promotion for Hollywood because their racist hate movement has always been a production in the entertainment industry.”
Cullors could not be immediately reached for comment. In an Instagram post dated April 13, Cullors called the allegations in the report ‘false and defamatory’, adding: ‘This attempt to discredit and harass my family is neither new nor acceptable. . It took away from where the focus should be – the end of white supremacy. ‘
In a statement, the HFPA said: ‘Since its inception, the HFPA has dedicated itself to bridging cultural ties and creating further understanding of different backgrounds through film and TV. The opinions expressed in the article by mr. Birch Distributed is that of the author of the article and does not reflect the views and values of the HFPA in any way. The HFPA condemns all forms of racism, discrimination and hate speech and finds such language and content unacceptable. ”
The reaction among members was swift and fierce; several requested to be removed from the email thread.
‘As a former HFPA president and still a strong and influential voice in the group, this is not the [type] information that you need to disseminate to HFPA members, ”Rui Coimbra replied. ‘Please remove me from any racist email you wish to send to the membership. Dr. Harper has been informed here that you equate the Black Lives Matter moment with the murderous gang of Charles Manson. ”
‘I think what we have to do is more tolerant of everyone’s opinions. Stop calling everyone and everything racist! Is not this what people who know nothing about us do not accuse? Wrote another member, Noemia Young.
In response to Berk, Councilor Luca Celada wrote: “We could just as well have distributed the Protocols of the Elder Zion. [sic] The bad rhetoric in this deck floor is simply unacceptable. In our association or wherever. ”
HFPA’s chief operating officer, Goeckner, weighs in and writes: ‘Phil – it is not appropriate to distribute material like this, which many members and staff find very offensive, to all members and staff as if it were a matter of the Association. Please do not recycle this type of material again. ‘
‘I was only going to illustrate the hypocrisy [sic] which engulfed us, I passed it on as a point of information. I had no hidden agenda. “I’m sorry I sent it now,” Berk replied.
This did little to limit the flow of responses.
“You’re a thunderous disgrace Phil Berk,” Patricia Danaher wrote.
Berk replies: ‘I hear of my sworn enemies. No surprise ”
“The fact that you do not recognize the seriousness of your statement is disturbing,” Husam “Sam” Asi wrote.
Asi, a Palestinian born in Israel, told a meeting of members last year to hire a diversity consultant (eventually rejected) that he had worked in many different countries in many different fields, but that he had never done so much “encountered racist comments.” As he had in this association.
The South African-born Berk has a history of controversy within the HFPA. In addition to his many terms as president, he has served on a number of officials on the board over the years.
In 2014, he took a six-month voluntary leave after publishing his memoir ‘With Signs and Wonders’, which angered a number of HFPA members about the many revelations he made about individual members and the inner workings of the organization.
Four years later, in an interview with GQ magazine, actor Brendan Fraser claims that Berk assaulted him during a luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2003.
His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass on the cheek and one of his fingers touches me. And he’s starting to move it around, “Fraser told the magazine.
While Berk remembered the incident as a joke in his memoirs, he wrote a letter of apology to Fraser after the actor’s publicist sent a letter to the HFPA. Berk told GQ that the letter did not admit violations and later emailed the magazine in which he denied the actor’s claim, saying: ‘Mr. Fraser’s version is a total fabrication. ”