Just days after the most recent awards ceremonies held by the Hollywood Creative Alliance (formerly the Hollywood Critics Association and before that the LA Online Film Critics Society) and the Critics Choice Association (formerly the Broadcast Film Critics Association), The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the board of the CCA has notified CCA members who are also members of the HCA that they must now pick one or the other.
The CCA board says that it has uncovered “evidence that a representative of the HCA has improperly suggested to at least one studio (and we suspect more) that it could influence Critics Choice Awards voting,” and that this “led that studio to reach out to CCA and request that action be taken to protect the integrity of our awards.”
The CCA board insists that the HCA threat “was empty, but CCA cannot ignore this,” which is why it felt compelled to implement a new policy prohitibing HCA members from maintaining membership in the CCA. “We are taking this action to protect our organization and to reassure everyone that supports our awards programs.”
The HCA, over the last few years, has been plagued by external criticisms and internal dissension, but talent has continued to show up at its award ceremonies. It remains to be seen how, if at all, this latest twist in the HCA saga will impact future turnout.
The full text of the CCA board’s missive to its members who are also members of the HCA appears below.
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Dear Critics Choice Association member,
We’re sending this email to inform you that the Critics Choice Association has instituted a new policy prohibiting members of the Hollywood Creative Alliance (formerly the Hollywood Critics Association, formerly the LA Online Film Critics Society) from maintaining membership in the Critics Choice Association. If you are currently a member of HCA and CCA, please let us know if you wish to remain a CCA member. This will require confirmation from you that you have successfully resigned from HCA and are no longer on the membership list as posted on its website.
The reason CCA has taken this action is that we have evidence that a representative of the HCA has improperly suggested to at least one studio (and we suspect more) that it could influence Critics Choice Awards voting in a way that led that studio to reach out to CCA and request that action be taken to protect the integrity of our awards. Of course, that HCA threat was empty, but CCA cannot ignore this. In light of HCA’s admitted voting irregularities in the recent past and evidence that we have that its awards voting can be influenced improperly, we are taking this action to protect our organization and to reassure everyone that supports our awards programs.
Please let [a specific CCA employee] know when/if your HCA membership has been successfully ended.
THE BOARD
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