NBC Drops 2022 Golden Globes; Tom Cruise Returns Trophies

Actor Tom Cruise attends the 47th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 20, 1990 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Getty Images)
Actor Tom Cruise attends the 47th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 20, 1990 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Getty Images)
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NBC Drops 2022 Golden Globes; Tom Cruise Returns Trophies

Actor Tom Cruise attends the 47th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 20, 1990 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Getty Images)
Actor Tom Cruise attends the 47th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 20, 1990 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Getty Images)

US television network NBC on Monday dropped its broadcast of the Golden Globes ceremony in 2022 after a Hollywood backlash over the ethics of the group that hands out the annual awards for film and television and its lack of diversity.

Tom Cruise joined a revolt led by streaming platforms and studios, returning the three Golden Globe statuettes he won for his roles in “Jerry Maguire,” “Magnolia” and “Born on the Fourth of July,” Variety and Deadline Hollywood reported.

NBC’s decision came even after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which hands out the awards, agreed to recruit more Black members and make other changes over the next 18 months. The network had initially welcomed the plan but later said it would wait to see if the reforms worked.

HFPA members have also been accused of making sexist and racist remarks and soliciting favors from celebrities and studios.

“Change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the HFPA needs time to do it right. As such, NBC will not air the 2022 Golden Globes,” NBC said in a statement.

“Assuming the organization executes on its plan, we are hopeful we will be in a position to air the show in January 2023,” NBC added.

After NBC's announcement, the HFPA said implementing “transformational change” remained an urgent priority “regardless of the next air date of the Golden Globes.”

In a statement, the HFPA reiterated its planned reforms and gave a detailed timetable. It said that by August 2021, it would hire a new chief executive, add 20 new members, approve a new code of conduct and provide diversity and sexual harassment training among other steps.

The annual Golden Globes ceremony, attended by A-list stars and industry executives, has become one of the biggest Hollywood awards shows in the run-up to the Oscars. But it has been under close scrutiny following an investigation published in February by the Los Angeles Times that showed the group of 87 journalists had no Black members.

On Saturday, Scarlett Johansson joined critics including Netflix, Amazon Studios, WarnerMedia and dozens of Hollywood's top publicity companies, who said they would no longer work with the HFPA unless it made far-reaching changes.

“For far too long, demands for perks, special favors and unprofessional requests have been made to our teams and to others across the industry,” WarnerMedia said.

Johansson urged her fellow actors to “take a step back from the HFPA” and Golden Globe events. In a statement, she said that in the past “this has often meant facing sexist questions and remarks by certain HFPA members that bordered on sexual harassment.”



Slovakia Festival Hosting Kanye West Cancelled after 'Heil Hitler' Furore

Kanye West's song 'Heil Hitler' ends with a speech by the Nazi leader. KEVORK DJANSEZIAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Kanye West's song 'Heil Hitler' ends with a speech by the Nazi leader. KEVORK DJANSEZIAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
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Slovakia Festival Hosting Kanye West Cancelled after 'Heil Hitler' Furore

Kanye West's song 'Heil Hitler' ends with a speech by the Nazi leader. KEVORK DJANSEZIAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Kanye West's song 'Heil Hitler' ends with a speech by the Nazi leader. KEVORK DJANSEZIAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

The Slovakia festival due to welcome Kanye West next week has called off the event following the uproar over the US rapper's May release of a song glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Before the July 20 gig was cancelled, Bratislava's Rubicon hip hop festival was set to be West's only confirmed live performance in Europe this year.

Though he has won 24 Grammy Awards over the course of his career, the erratic rapper has become notorious in recent years for his increasingly antisemitic and hate-filled rants.

West, who has legally changed his name to the shorthand "Ye", released the song "Heil Hitler" on May 8, the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

In the wake of the announcement of West's appearance at Rubicon, thousands of people signed a petition against the gig.

The rapper -- a vocal supporter of US President Donald Trump -- is "repeatedly and openly adhering to symbols and ideology connected with the darkest period of modern global history", two groups behind the petition said.

In a statement on Instagram late on Wednesday, the festival's organizers said the decision to cancel the event was "due to media pressure and the withdrawal of several artists and partners".

"This was not an easy decision," the organizers said, without drawing a direct line between the rapper's planned appearance and the cancellations.

Contacted on Thursday by AFP, the Rubicon festival did not offer further explanations.

Styling itself as the central European country's premier hip hop hang-out, the Rubicon festival was set to run from July 18 to 20.

US rappers Offset and Sheck Wes were set to share top billing with West.

Australia cancelled West's visa on July 2 over "Heil Hitler", in which West raps about his custody battle with ex-wife Kim Kardashian before the song ends with an extract of a speech by the Nazi dictator.

West's wife, Bianca Censori, is Australian.