Peter Bart: Golden Globes and Top Gov reveal the depth of the cultural gap

In his new ad campaign, former Navy attorney Ron DeSantis dons a bespectacled aviator outfit, bills himself as a “Top Gov” and indulges in a dogfight with the liberal-leaning media. Anyone who disagrees with their views will be immediately dismissed from future speeches or press conferences.

Will this strategy appeal to a broad audience or limit the Florida governor to a “niche”? Top Gov has his sights set on the widest niche — the presidency — and so has focused his campaign on a political version of cruise control. His chief communications officer says: “We know the media hates us and hates everything we stand for.”

Does DeSantis really believe he can unite the Republican Party by being even more divisive than Donald Trump before he was voted out of office and, as many believe, an attempt to overthrow the government at the hands of his unruly hardline base, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers crowd , fueled?

His strategy is the opposite of that of the Golden Globes and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a shadowy corporation that has spent years trying to escape exile without a single black voter and other misdeeds by its 100 or so journalists. /parasites, which are free stringers abroad. Given an important position with a weighty voice for a popular awards show known for being more irreverent and funnier than the stuffy Oscar cast, these journalists have earned a reputation for supplementing their meager incomes with lavish gifts and junkets to glamorous venues. They held interview sessions that big stars were asked by the awards companies to attend, and often had to endure rude and personal questions from these nobodys. And former HFPA president Philip Berk reportedly kicked Brendan Fraser Down Under – the actor himself used the word “contagion” to describe the exchange. Berk, a member for 44 years and president for eight years, was allowed to stay after denying that he was a golden greeter and was not brought back until he retweeted a message that Black Lives Matter was a “racist hate group ” is.

Fraser was nominated for his performance in The whale but said he didn’t show up, and he didn’t. He was barely mentioned – but not Tom Cruise, who was so upset by the HFPA’s misdeeds that he totaled and returned the three Globes won. On the show earlier this week, host Jerrod Carmichael came up with three of the prizes, saying he found Cruise’s hideout and suggesting they be ransomed for the “safe return of Shelly Miscavige.” She is the rarely seen wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige. Never mind that many believe Cruise has turned around a moribund box office Top Gun: Maverick, after not allowing this film to be sold to a streamer during the pandemic. Whether you consider Scientology a form of faith or something else, you wouldn’t have seen Carmichael Fraser shooting for the same reasons, since that actor is Jewish.

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Remarkably, that was about the only sharp joke from Carmichael, who said in his monologue that he was chosen to host “because I’m black.” It probably didn’t hurt that he also recently came out as a gay man. And the $500,000 he reportedly got was a temptation for him, far more than the $20,000 or so Deadline was supposed to receive from Oscar hosts.

But that was the strange thing about the Globes, which apparently set a record for attendance of blacks presenting and winning awards. Was this course correction made on merit? Consisting largely of the same members as in previous years and now paying $75,000 to journalists who once struggled to vote, has this “new and improved” HFPA really reaped the benefits of all the effort Hollywood has put into it? the field of diversity in the era of #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, George Floyd and other things that have somewhat leveled the playing field? Or is it just the desperation of an organization desperate to retain its prime-time spot, relevance and outrageous payment for television broadcast rights?

Many in the industry remain skeptical of the Globes. About 27 nominees and several winners stayed home on a rainy Tuesday evening. Ratings dropped 25%, not a good result for the HFPA or Todd Boehly, as it spelled the end of NBC’s $60 million-a-year contract. It’s unlikely that the network, or any other network, will pay that much in the future, especially for a sanitized version of the funniest awards show of the season with a “who cares who voted for these awards, the booze is flowing, and hosts like Ricky” attitude Gervais and Tina Fey & Amy Poehler puncture the pompous ego balloon of the evening’s contestants”?

Taking a hard turn on the bore didn’t help the Globe as it tried to crawl out of the wood shed. But back to DeSantis.

Will his organization’s radical turn in the other direction also shrink and hurt its base through a return to the insults and polarized reporting that Trump used when he called the media liars and evil? The governor of Florida, who seemed all too eager to echo Cruises boss look seems determined to find out.

For the major media, DeSantis emerged as Trump’s main rival. He built a powerful constituency in Florida, his supporters vowed to ban books and fuel the culture wars. His press aides have revoked the credentials of CNN or other entities deemed too liberal. The Disney empire has been denounced for flouting DeSantis’ restrictive proposals, even to the point of revising lenient tax laws.

“In Florida, we don’t allow older media companies to participate in our priorities,” DeSantis said. Media veterans recall that while Trump vilified the press, he also reached out to his media stars and carefully planted positive narratives.

This country has always voted along party lines, but it has never seemed less genuine than now. At both the Globes and DeSantis, we have to ask ourselves what is in the hearts of the people who put on these self-serving shows that serve one agenda or another.