Golden Globes group adds 6 Black members after massive backlash over lack of diversity

The group that puts on the annual Golden Globes has added six Black members after facing widespread criticism — and getting yanked off NBC — for having none at all.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the Golden Globe Awards, on Friday announced it has added 21 new members, six of whom are Black, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Additionally, the group said six of its new members are Latinx, five are Asian, and four are Middle Eastern/North African. It was the "largest and most diverse" new class of members in the group's history, the HFPA said.

The news comes after the HFPA faced massive backlash earlier this year when the Los Angeles Times reported that the 87-member group had zero Black members — and according to Variety, there had been no Black members in the organization since at least 2002. As the backlash grew, Tom Cruise returned his Golden Globes in protest, studios like Netflix said they'd refuse to work with the group until it implements reforms, and NBC announced it wouldn't air the ceremony at all in 2022. Prior to Friday's announcement, the HFPA pledged it would expand its ranks so that at least 13 percent of its membership consisted of Black journalists. The group didn't reach that goal Friday, Vulture notes, but Credential Committee member Tre'vell Anderson said that "this is just a first step in a long process."

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"We are building a new organization, one that is not focused on fulfilling quotas, but instead has diversity and inclusion at its core, has ethical conduct as the norm, and has people of color involved in every aspect of the association — from membership to executive leadership," HFPA President Helen Hoehne said.

Though NBC pulled the plug on the Golden Globes for 2022, the network said it still hopes to return to airing the show in 2023, assuming the group has made "meaningful reform" by then.