The Golden Globes has always been known for playing fast and loose with its awards categories, and now the tense legal drama behind the scenes of the famed show has veered into pure comedy.
Little did Jay Penske know when he assumed control of the Golden Globes in 2023 — and banished the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — that he’d be locked in a lengthy legal battle with the gang who couldn’t shoot straight.
Penske’s Golden Globes has now sued the Golden Globe Foundation, the similarly named nonprofit whose board is mostly comprised of former HFPA members, who also happen to be suing Penske in federal court.
Penske, who owns the glitzy awards show, is accusing the nonprofit — now led by former Hollywood Foreign Press Association member Raffi Boghosian — of hijacking the awards show’s famous name and using it without permission.
In a spicy new complaint, Golden Globes LLC says it became the “exclusive owner” of the Golden Globe trademark and related intellectual property when an embattled HFPA sold it to the media mogul and fellow tycoon Todd Boehly in June 2023.
According to the new complaint, the two sides discussed licensing the name to the newly created foundation, but “those discussions ultimately failed to produce an agreement on acceptable terms.”
Nevertheless, the foundation allegedly continued using the Golden Globe name for grants, dinners, auctions, events and promotional materials — and even began developing “Golden Globe” merchandise. (Apparently, the foundation wasn’t bold enough to add the “s” to “Globe” on its alleged merch and be so flagrant!)
The suit is a rebuttal, of sorts, to a federal complaint filed in July by a group of former HFPA members against Penske and former Golden Globe Foundation CEO Gregory Goeckner for allegedly acting in cahoots to wage a multi-year scheme to acquire the Globes and dismantle the HFPA.
But the Golden Globes vs. the Golden Globe (!) turned especially nasty after Boghosian and other foundation board members allegedly staged a coup and ousted Goeckner, a drama we previously told you about in July.
Boghosian was then elected interim CEO of the Golden Globe Foundation. (Are you still with us?)
Penske’s suit claims that, under Boghosian’s leadership, the foundation fired Goeckner and outside lawyers at a time when they were negotiating a trademark license with Penke’s Golden Globes. Boghosian then allegedly “directed and authorized the expansion” of the foundation’s use of the Golden Globe name.
Penske’s new complaint goes even further, alleging the foundation and the old HFPA guard are coordinating against the Globes’ current owners (i.e., Penske and Boehly).
Penske’s suit claims that any legal settlement going to the foundation will redirect charitable funds meant for widows, orphans and whatever other needy cases are mentioned during the telecast (when Ben Affleck and Sean Penn go for smoke breaks) back to the HFPA to “finance the HFPA’s lawsuit and other private disputes” against Golden Globes LLC — an arrangement the plaintiff portrays as anything but charitable.
Penske’s Golden Globes LLC is seeking an injunction barring the foundation from using its name, plus the foundation’s profits, potentially trebled damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.
Penske’s suit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California. The Los Angeles firm Sidley Austin represents Penske, and a Penske spokesperson declined comment.
Nate Miller, who reps the Golden Globe Foundation said in a statement to Page Six Hollywood: “The Golden Globe Foundation was created in 2023 as part of the same deal that sold the Golden Globes to the company now suing us.”
Miller added that the Globes awards was happily working with the foundation initially, saying: “That company then promoted our name. The Golden Globes’ president welcomed guests to our first grants dinner, where we gave $5 million to 96 organizations, and publicly thanked Penske Media’s own Robb Report for supporting the Foundation.”
If all that isn’t confusing enough, the former HFPA members were actually suing the Golden Globe Foundation, which they named as a defendant in their July federal suit against Penske and Goeckner. But all that disappeared recently without fanfare. Sources tell us that the HFPA quietly dropped the Golden Globe Foundation from its lawsuit last month.
The banished HFPA members essentially “settled with themselves,” says one person familiar with the wacky litigation.
“They got rid of Goeckner in order to unite against Jay Penske,” says one person involved with the sprawling litigation. “Goeckner was the obstacle.”
The Golden Globe Foundation is being repped by Latham Watkins, (a seemingly pricey firm for a penny-pinching nonprofit!).
For his part, Boghosian sent an email to foundation members on Oct. 1 to inform them that the Golden Globes had filed a lawsuit against the foundation concerning the use of the Golden Globe name and trademark. “Now that company, owned by Penske Media and Todd Boehly’s Eldridge, is suing a nonprofit that supports schools and press freedom over the same name it once celebrated. This lawsuit is a transparent attempt to pressure the Foundation, and we will answer it in court.”
Boghosian asked members to refrain from commenting publicly or responding to media inquiries, and one foundation board member sent an email to would-be stakeholders lamenting Page Six Hollywood’s coverage earlier this summer.
“Going forward, the Foundation will be taking a more proactive and firm approach to media matters. We respect the important role of a free and independent press and welcome fair and responsible reporting. At the same time, we have an obligation to protect the Foundation, its reputation, and its mission.”
Perhaps Halloween is a fitting time for this tale, as Penske is finding that the HFPA keeps coming back to life in the third reel.