UPDATED: On Tuesday night, the aftermath of recent disputes over the Hollywood Foreign Press Association continued.
We can confirm from sources with knowledge that advisor for diversity and inclusion, dr. Shaun Harper, walked away from the Golden Globes earlier today, as first reported by THR. The USC professor was appointed by the HFPA on March 9th.
As the HFPA’s house of cards further disintegrates over the lack of black members of the group and no real strategy to become more inclusive, long-term PR firm Sunshine Sachs is putting together its own exit strategy. “Working with them is starting to hurt our larger business profile, and we can not get it from one customer,” an insider told Deadline of Sunshine Sach’s impending decision to no longer represent the HFPA. “We can not work like that,” they added.
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The firm did not respond to comments, but we hear from another well-positioned source that Sunshine Sachs is “considering all options.” We hear it’s a matter of days, if not hours, before Sunshine Sachs takes a breather with the stumbling HFPA org.
The news of Harper’s resignation comes in the wake of extremely inappropriate email remarks made by Phil Berk, former president of the HFPA, on Sunday. In his remarks, Berk referred to Black Lives Matter as a “racist hate movement”, and also described the movement’s co-founder, Patrice Cullors, as’ the self-proclaimed ‘trained Marxist’. “On Tuesday, after condemnation by NBC and The owner of Dick Clark Productions, MRC, was expelled from the organization for his use of racist rhetoric.
THR also reported that Judy Smith’s firm Smith & Company also separated from the HFPA after being appointed by the organization’s law firm Lathan & Watkins just over a month ago to provide advice. The deadline reached Smith and received no comment. We will update you when we do.
The explosion radius of today was only the latest controversy of the organization with less than 90 members.
In the run-up to the 78th Golden Globe Awards on February 28, it appeared that the group had zero black individuals among its 87 voting members. A fact that was repeatedly mentioned to the Globes themselves that evening, including vague promises from a trio of HFPA buyers that they would solve the problem.
Subsequently, Time’s Up and more than 100 PR companies threatened to end business with the group unless it achieved the major reforms in terms of representation. The HFPA promised to take action by 6 May. Harper’s departure today only increases the pressure on the group to make changes.