The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has sued Penske Media, parent of The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Rolling Stone and other publications, alleging the company fraudulently acquired the Golden Globes as part of a larger plan to monopolize the awards market.
In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in California federal court, the HFPA accuses Penske Media of leveraging its control over the Hollywood trades to instigate a boycott of the group with the goal of rendering it vulnerable to an acquisition.
“This case arises from a clandestine scheme to fraudulently acquire the prestigious and valuable 80-year-old Golden Globe Awards, destroy their founder and former owner, the HFPA, and exert monopolistic control over the Hollywood trades, awards, and advertising markets,” states the complaint.
Penske Media didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2023, Dick Clark Productions — the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming, which shares the same ownership as THR — and Eldridge acquired the Golden Globes from the HFPA, the organization of non-American journalists that founded the awards show in 1943.
More to come.
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