The Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s president was reportedly “shocked and upset” at Golden Globes host Jerrod Carmichael’s comments about her during the award show last week.
Carmichael ripped the controversy-marred organization in his monologue for this year’s show, the first to be broadcast since the Los Angeles Times reported two years ago that the organization lacked diversity and had zero Black members.
“I’ll tell you why I’m here: I’m here ’cause I’m Black,” said Carmichael, who later added that the organization didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died in 2020.
The host said he declined three invitations to meet with the organization’s president, Helen Hoehne, and referred to the request as a “trap.”
Hoehne wasn’t pleased with the mention, and friends reportedy “consoled” her following the name drop, sources told The Hollywood Reporter. (An “insider with ties to HFPA” denied that she responded emotionally.)
“The whole thing was so awkward and uncomfortable,” a source told the outlet.
Carmichael’s monologue was also glossed over during an episode of a Hollywood Foreign Press Association podcast last week.
Organization member Jenny Cooney told “Golden Globes Around the World” listeners that she and fellow members on the podcast would “skip right ahead” to discussion about the rest of the award show.
“We’re not going to talk about the host because everybody has their own opinion on the host,” Cooney said.
The organization did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Carmichael’s monologue, which was described as “totally honest” by the award show’s broadcaster NBC, didn’t just upset the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Whitney Houston’s estate weighed in after the comedian mentioned that the Golden Globes’ host venue — the Beverly Hilton — was the hotel where the singer was found dead in 2012.
“The Whitney Houston Estate is disappointed in the joke and felt it was in poor taste,” the estate told TMZ in a statement.