It’s yet another black eye for the Golden Globes.
This past week, an interview with Clint Eastwood surfaced to commemorate his 95th birthday.
There were a lot of juicy quotes and they were picked up around the world. In particular, he criticized Hollywood for making endless sequels and remakes. He said: “Do something new or stay at home…”
Except, he didn’t say it. Or if he did, it was years ago. Turns out that longtime Golden Globe member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association cobbled together old quotes of Eastwood’s from years past. She published the article in Austrian publication Kurier.
Many outlets picked up the translated version including Variety. Ironically, the Variety publisher, Penske Media, owns the Globes after saving them from extinction. Eastwood’s people saw the article and sent a statement to Variety’s Penske cousin, Deadline.com, deny he ever gave this interview.
Clint said: “I never gave an interview to an Austrian publication called Kurier, or any other writer in recent weeks, and that the interview is entirely phony.”
Sereda said in her statement: “Quotes from Mr. Eastwood cited in the story are culled from several of those 14 press conferences I attended and covered.”
Imagine that this all took place under one corporate umbrella. Variety, Deadline, and the Globes are all owned by the same people.
Sereda stayed on with the Globes after the magazine publisher gained control of the HFPA. She was one of the original members who was asked to stay, and given a salary under a contract that was recently disavowed by the publisher. The HFPA and Globes have suffered numerous scandals over the years. I was the lone wolf writing about it going back to 2000. It never ends, apparently.
So sorry, Clint. Happy Birthday!
