The Hollywood Foreign Press Association sued Penske Media and the Golden Globe Foundation Tuesday, alleging they orchestrated an illegal scheme to take over the Golden Globe Awards, dismantle the 80-year-old organization that created them and dominate Hollywood trade publications and the entertainment awards market.
According to the complaint, filed in Los Angeles federal court, Penske Media — parent of Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone and other publications — used their Hollywood trade publications to spark a boycott of the HFPA with the goal of devaluing the organization and rendering it vulnerable to acquisition.
The HFPA contends that billionaire Penske associate Todd Boehly then infiltrated the HFPA as interim CEO while simultaneously serving as the buyer seeking to purchase the Golden Globes through his company Eldridge Industries LLC, according to the suit.
Shortly after the deal’s signing, media mogul Jay Penske emerged and assumed complete control of the Golden Globes, the HFPA said.
In a statement shared with City News Service, a Golden Globes spokesperson said the complaint was “a new low” for the HFPA.
“Today’s lawsuit continues the absurdity and irrationality that the industry has come to expect from the defunct organization formerly known as the HFPA,” according to the organization. “The Golden Globes transaction closed more than three years ago and received all required approvals — any assertion that it did not close, or remains subject to reversal, is once again unequivocally false.”
“This latest act of duplicity is a new low, even for the HFPA,” the statement continued. “The attempt by former HFPA members to leverage the Golden Globe Foundation, an independent nonprofit, simply to secure Golden Globes tickets is an unfortunate distraction that inappropriately diverts resources from legitimate charitable causes. We remain troubled that the HFPA, an organization so widely criticized for ethical failures, non-inclusivity, racism, and misconduct involving talent, continues to find attorneys willing to push such illegitimate claims.”
The lawsuit — which is seeking damages exceeding $150 million — alleges that Penske’s acquisition of the Golden Globes is a central component of a broad anticompetitive trust wherein he owns and/or controls at least half a dozen major awards shows — including the Golden Globes, the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards — almost all of the major Hollywood trade publications that sell the advertising packages for award contestants, and the company that controls the market for predicting winners for those awards shows, Gold Derby Media.
HFPA contends that Penske has also used his alleged monopolization to turn the Golden Globes into a “pay-to-play racket,” requiring expensive FYC — For Your Consideration — ad buys from his own trade publications as a prerequisite for awards consideration while excluding HFPA members and chilling competition by retaliating against journalists who dare to speak out against the anticompetitive conduct, according to the complaint.
The suit alleges 20 causes of action including violations of federal and state antitrust laws, unfair trade practices, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and legal malpractice.
The HFPA seeks damages exceeding $150 million, treble damages, rescission of allegedly unlawful agreements, injunctive relief prohibiting the defendants from continuing their anticompetitive practices, and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains.
“The defendants’ alleged anticompetitive conduct and brazen attempts to destroy the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, all to consolidate even greater monopolistic control in Hollywood and freeze out competing foreign journalists, has caused great harm to the 83-year-old organization and to the integrity of the awards market and related markets in the entertainment industry,” plaintiffs’ attorney Daniel A. Saunders said in a statement.
“We look forward to proving the defendants’ liability in court, obtaining treble damages for the HFPA, and securing injunctive relief to prohibit the defendants from causing further harm to consumers and competitors.”
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