HFPA Blocking Critics Choice Awards From Booking Beverly Hilton for 2022 Show

Clayton Davis

25 June 2021 at 5:56 pm·2-min read

The Critics Choice Association is looking to capitalize on the absence of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on the awards scene following NBC’s announcement that the Golden Globes would be canceled in 2022. Hoping to present itself as a credible alternative, the CCAs announced its show would air on Jan. 9, 2022, and sources have revealed that the organization has been looking to secure the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the Golden Globes have been held for several decades. However, the HFPA looks to be blocking any such efforts as the CCA has been unable to secure the venue for its telecast due to the Beverly Hilton management receiving pushback about releasing the dates.

“The HFPA values its longstanding relationship with the Hilton,” the HFPA said in a statement to Variety. “However, the organization is focused on its reform efforts and working on the transformational changes it has already announced and has made no other plans for the show at this time.”

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The Critics Choice Awards has also been looking at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel as a possible venue to hold its awards show. The Beverly Hilton Hotel did not provide a comment for the story.

Following an avalanche of scrutiny regarding the complete lack of Black members since at least 2002, the HFPA has been hemorrhaging support from its longtime publicists and studio executives. Amazon Studios, Netflix and Warner Media were among the studios that severed ties with the organization until it demonstrates real, lasting reform and change, according to a letter that was sent to HFPA president Ali Sar. The last known Black member of the HFPA was Lowell Staine, a native of Belize who died in February 1998, and no evidence has emerged to suggest any other Black members belonged to the group before that time.

It looks as though the battle for the secondary awards show behind the Oscars is in full effect.

Full disclosure: Clayton Davis is one of 466 members of the Critics Choice Association and a Board member.

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