Until reading just now the recent LA Times story about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — sponsor of the Golden Globes — AOC thought that the organization was prestigious. Reading now about the lackluster credentials of members, I can’t imagine that Hollywood publicists have let this group get so out of hand in its protectionist tactics and massive organizational ego.

Just one example from The Times: “While working as Hollywood correspondent for the leading French newspaper Le Monde in the 1990s, Claudine Mulard was rejected from the organization three times, with no reason given.”

Reeling under a class action lawsuit brought by highly credentialed journalists refused membership in the HFPA, Monday brought a massive headache to the organization.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that when publicists — the gatekeepers of "talent" — are upset with you, you are truly facing an existential crisis, activated by the reality that the organization has not one single Black member.

Now publicists are taking matters into teheir own hands. with representatives of more than 100 firms — “virtually every major one on both sides of the Atlantic “— signing on to an unprecedented missive hammered out in recent days. The opening paragraph reads:

As publicists we collectively represent the vast majority of artists in the entertainment industry. We call on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to swiftly manifest profound and lasting change to eradicate the longstanding exclusionary ethos and pervasive practice of discriminatory behavior, unprofessionalism, ethical impropriety and alleged financial corruption endemic to the HFPA, funded by Dick Clark Productions, MRC, NBCUniversal and Comcast.

After pointing out the lack of diversity in the organization, the missive from 100+ agencies — listed individually — continues:

To reflect how urgent and necessary we feel this work is, we cannot advocate for our clients to participate in HFPA events or interviews as we await your explicit plans and timeline for transformational change.

While we stand ready to support your good faith efforts, please know that anything less than transparent, meaningful change that respects and honors the diversity and dignity of our clients, their colleagues and our global audience will result in immediate and irreparable damage to the relationship between our agencies, our clients and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and those who sanction the institutional inquity and insular culture that currently define it.

The eyes of the industry and those who support it are watching.

We share the story from the perspectives of other media:

Golden Globes: NBCUniversal Says It's Using Its "Influence" to Pressure HFPA to Reform Hollywood Reporter

Walk It Like You Talk It: Hollywood Publicists Threaten to Pull Clients From All HFPA Press Until Plans to Diversify Are Shown The Root

HFPA Board Responds After Publicists Press Group Over Lack Of Black Members & Threaten To Urge Clients To Not Show For Golden Globes Deadline

Jay-Z is in deal-making mode, fresh off selling 50% of his Armand de Brignac champagne company — better known as Ace of Spades — to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Pundits underscore that reality that the entertainment industry has been hit hard by the pandemic.

“I think Roc Nation will be fine,” Jay-Z said in an interview last month about the sale of Armand de Brignac. “Like all entertainment companies, it will eventually recover. You just have to be smart and prudent at a time like this.”

Jay-Z still heads Roc Nation, a music and sports talent agency that represents Rihanna. Roc Nation acquired two California cannabis companies in November, and surely Jay-Z wants to advance that business.

Will Bernard Arnault eventually be in the cannabis business? AOC bets “probably’. Watching Arnault and his children at the center of a growing wheel of connections into the global community of Black artists and entrepreneurs is quite fascinating.

Without Telling the World How Great He Is, Jay-Z Gets A Seat on Square Board of Directors

The Financial Times reminds us that it was Jay-Z, not Kanye West, who was declared the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019. The factoid is interesting because after Kanye’s summer-long Twitter brouhaha about being God, damning Democrats, wanting to tear down Planned Parenthood and — oh yes — getting his masters back, along with a seat on the GAP board of directors, the much quieter and deliberate business person Jay-Z had his masters already — and now has a major board seat of influence.

Jay-Z is putting that notch on his belt as well, with Thursday’s announcement that Square, the mobile payments company founded and led by Jack Dorsey [also the co-founder and CEO of Twitter] has acquired a controlling interest in Tidal, the streaming music service owned by Jay-Z and other artists including Beyoncé, Jay-Z’s wife, and Rihanna in a $297 million deal.

Jay-Z will join the board of Square. Also of interest, as reported by the New York Times, Dorsey and Jay-Z mutually endowed a Bitcoin trust in February to support development in India and Africa.

In another piece of this growing Jay-Z awesome financial puzzle, the mogul has invested in Perch Credit, CEO Michael Broughton and CTO Ayush Jain. Perch Credit is aimed to help underserved communities boost their credit scores by reporting recurring payments like rent and subscriptions like Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify to the credit agencies.

Broughton, 22, spoke about Perch Credit securing the co-sign from JAY-Z’s Marcy Venture Projects in an interview with Yahoo Finance. “Yeah, definitely not easy. I came from a background where I was never even exposed to venture capital or working with investors. And it wasn’t until YC and meeting Michael that I really started learning how to get engaged, how to start talking to VCs and start raising capital. I got told no over 100 times before we got our first check.”

AOC already knows where Jay-Z’s and Jack Dorsey’s alliance will go, based on our own updated education of finance and credit trends last week. Stay tuned for part two. ~ Anne