Golden Globes 2022: Nobody's Attending And There's No Way To Watch It

If the Golden Globes take place without celebrity guests, members of the press or an audience, without being televised, did it actually take place? That’s the question after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced its plans for the 79th Golden Globe Awards, set to take place on Sunday, January 9.

The HFPA is moving forward with the awards show with a limited number of members on hand at the Beverly Hilton. There will be no red carpet, no celebrity guests, no press and no audience in attendance. Not only is there a concern about rising COVID-19 cases to consider, but it looks like no one really wanted to show up to the beleaguered awards ceremony, once known as one of the highlights of the Hollywood awards season.

Last February the Los Angeles Times published a scathing story about the lack of diversity at the HFPA. In addition to its questionable membership makeup, the organization’s conduct was also placed under a microscope. It wasn’t long before Hollywood distanced itself from the HFPA, and in a year’s time the distance continues to grow.

NBC has been the home of the Golden Globes broadcast for years, but after the LA Times article was released the network announced that it would not air the 2022 awards ceremony, calling into question whether the ceremony will be made available to anyone who isn’t present at the Beverly Hilton.

The HFPA’s options to air the ceremony are limited because NBC owns the broadcast rights. If the organization wanted to live stream the event online they would need permission from NBC and technical support.

This brings up another interesting dilemma for the HFPA: even if the HFPA manages to live stream the event, who will watch?

The 90-minute ceremony will be one of the shortest ceremonies ever. The Golden Globes are notorious for running long; every year jokes are made at the show’s expense as award winners’ speeches are cut short while musical numbers and clips from movies go long.

Instead of focusing solely on the movies and shows that the awards ceremony is there to celebrate, the HFPA will also spend time during the event to spotlight diversity and their endeavors to build a more representative membership.

Awards will be announced and presentations will be made, but does anyone really want to win this year?

What does a Golden Globe count for in 2022? What does it mean to receive accolades from a problematic organization like the HFPA, an organization that likely would have remained problematic if not for the exposé that brought the myriad issues to life?

The 2022 Golden Globe statues are so toxic they might as well sport asterisks.

The traditional marketing push for Golden Globe award consideration has been noticeably absent in the days and weeks leading up to Sunday’s ceremony. Winners won’t want to celebrate their wins and studios won’t want to publicize them.

It’s anyone’s guess how the ceremony and the gold statues will be received on Sunday, but if no one attends the ceremony and there’s no way to watch it, maybe the 2022 Golden Globes will be like the tree falling in the empty forest after all.