Judy Smith, the real inspiration for Olivia Pope, “The Scandal,” and Dr. Shaun Harper, a USC professor, moved away from HFPA on Tuesday, and PR firm Sunshine Sachs and law firm Ropes & & Gray LLP can’t be far behind. follow.
The very bad year of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has just gotten worse.
Following a February 21 Los Angeles Times The article that revealed the organization behind the Golden Globe Awards currently has zero black people among its members, Time’s Up and more than 100 PR firms have threatened to disrupt HFPA altogether, unless it has announced major reforms. HFPA has promised to do so by May 6, but as this date approaches, it is in a bigger mess than ever.
On Tuesday, the HFPA board was pressured by NBC, its broadcast partner Globes, and MRC, the owner of the production company Globes Dick Clark Productions, to expel Philip Berk, a 44-year-old group veteran and former president for eight years after Los Angeles Times reported that Berk sent a racist e-mail to his colleagues on Sunday.
Things got worse from there, The Hollywood Reporter can report exclusively.
Berk’s situation proved to be the last break for Smith & Company, the strategic consulting and crisis communications firm run by the famous “fixer”. Judy Smith, real life inspiration for ScandalOlivia Pope, who had been detained by HFPA law firm Lathan & Watkins for advising the organization just over a month ago.
At the beginning of the relationship, Smith was reportedly outraged by Dr. Shaun Harper, a USC professor HFPA hired on March 9 to serve as a diversity and inclusion (D&I) advisor, for HFPA to add 13 new black members – a seemingly arbitrary number, which would then have brought HFPA members to 100 – before next Globe Ceremony. Subsequently, she became increasingly frustrated by the organization’s refusal to listen to other advice and to take concrete action, eventually concluding that its problems were so deeply rooted that it was a lost cause, which determined her to give up on Tuesday.
Smith could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Harper met with representatives of Time’s Up on Tuesday, inclusive Ava DuVernay and Shonda Rhimes, and PR firms that have stated they will retain talent from HFPA events, unless major changes are adopted by May 6th. That meeting did not go well, with Harper being criticized for proposing 13 new black members and concluding that the scope of the issue goes beyond what he initially understood it to be, which eventually led him to resign. .
Harper could not be reached for comment, but THR obtained a copy of his resignation letter, which reads in part, “After learning more about the Association’s profound systemic and reputational challenges, I no longer trust our ability to collaboratively deliver the transformative change that the industry and the people in it o I deeply respect you. My serious, unwavering commitment to the racial and gender equity issues I work with on a daily basis makes it impossible for me to continue to serve as an HFPA consultant. “
Harper also released HFPA to compensate him for any of his work in the past six weeks.
The next domino that will fall? Sources say Sunshine Sachs, HFPA’s long-term PR firm, is considering giving up the organization as a client, as is Ropes & Gray LLP, the law firm retained by HFPA on March 9 to conduct a comprehensive review of HFPA policies. ; assess their accession process, operations and governance; and reviewing its alignment with industry best practices in various fields.
Ropes & Gray and Sunshine Sachs could not be reached for comment.