Ellen Pompeo penned an open letter the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and “White Hollywood” a day before the 2021 Golden Globes.
Shared to her Instagram post, Pompeo’s letter calls out the HFPA for its lack of diverse members, a criticism that has echoed throughout Hollywood since an Los Angeles Times exposé revealed that the industry body has no Black journalists among its 87 members. While the HFPA responded to the backlash noting that they will “immediately work to implement a plan” to up the diversity in its party, the Grey’s Anatomy star proposed her own solution and called on “white Hollywood” to help.
“I would kindly ask, all my white colleagues in this industry, an industry that we love and has granted us enormous privilege…. to pull up, show up and get this issue resolved,” she wrote in the letter. “Let’s show our black colleagues that we care and are willing to do the work to right the wrongs we have created. Now is not a time to be silent. We have a real action item here let’s get it done.”
Pompeo is among the numerous Hollywood names questioning the HFPA’s lack of Black members. Sterling K. Brown, Kerry Washington, Jurnee Smollett, Amy Schumer and Dakota Johnson all shared a Time’s Up post calling out the HFPA.
See Pompeo’s open letter and other industry figures’ posts below.
Old news. New energy. #TimesUpGlobes pic.twitter.com/AzJhTA42W8
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) February 26, 2021
So many crazy things about the @goldenglobes and the Hollywood Foreign press but this is awful. #timesupglobes pic.twitter.com/C5PYs5zFRr
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) February 26, 2021
A cosmetic fix isn’t enough. #TIMESUPGlobes #TIMESUP pic.twitter.com/hjebfXIRFU
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) February 26, 2021