{"id":20765,"date":"2026-07-29T08:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20765"},"modified":"2026-07-29T08:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:42:17","slug":"former-golden-globes-owner-files-150m-lawsuit-against-penske-media-over-alleged-fraud-during-purchase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20765","title":{"rendered":"Former Golden Globes owner files $150M lawsuit against Penske Media over alleged fraud during purchase"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F3%2F2026%2F07%2Fnewspress-collage-6d0pecbz2-1785293323697.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261785278945\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>LOS ANGELES \u2014 Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press, which founded and for decades owned the\u00a0Golden Globe Awards, have sued <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/04\/20\/hollywood\/golden-globes-variety-owner-cuts-employee-access-to-glp-1-drugs\/\">Penske Media Corporation<\/a> and others, alleging they engaged in fraud to acquire the valuable awards show in an attempt to create an entertainment industry monopoly.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit filed in federal court in California on Tuesday alleges that Penske Media and owner Jay Penske colluded with holding company Eldridge Industries and its CEO\u00a0Todd Boehly\u00a0to fuel a backlash and boycott against the Globes to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/06\/12\/golden-globes-sold-to-new-owners-after-years-of-scandals\/\">devalue it and acquire it<\/a>, and to deceive the HFPA about a sale they were pressured into accepting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis case arises from a clandestine scheme to fraudulently acquire the prestigious and valuable 80-year-old\u00a0Golden Globe Awards,\u201d the lawsuit says, \u201cand exert monopolistic control over the Hollywood trades, awards, and advertising markets, all in violation of state and federal unfair competition and antitrust laws.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Penske Media Corporation CEO Jay Penske attending the 83rd Golden Globes Awards at the Beverly Hilton on Jan. 11, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press sued Penske Media Corporation and others over claims they engaged in fraud to acquire the award show. <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Matt Sayles<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It alleges Boehly and Eldridge hid the involvement of Penske in the 2023 deal from the HFPA board, which never would have approved it if they had known of it. Penske Media\u2019s assets include Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, Billboard and Dick Clark Productions, which owns or produces several awards shows including the American Music Awards and is now part owner of the Globes.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The lawsuit says the HFPA members were promised <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/11\/25\/entertainment\/penske-media-mag-takes-down-70k-golden-globes-ticket-offer\/\">lifetime Golden Globes tickets <\/a>and voting privileges, along with other perks, which Penske reneged on by attaching unworkable conditions. And it says the buyers infiltrated the HFPA leadership to push through the deal.<\/p>\n<p>A representative of the Golden Globes\u2019 current owners said in a statement that the lawsuit \u201ccontinues the absurdity and irrationality that the industry has come to expect from the defunct organization formerly known as the HFPA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Golden Globes, long treasured as a glitzy, champagne-soaked opening of Hollywood\u2019s awards season, has had a turbulent 2020s full of lawsuits and public controversies. In 2021, a Los Angeles Times investigation revealed the group had only one Black member.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Penske acquired the Golden Globes in 2023. <span class=\"credit\">Penske Media via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That brought a public outcry and boycott that led to NBC refusing to air the awards in 2022. The lawsuit claims that Boehly and Penske \u201csurreptitiously instigated\u201d the boycott and used Penske\u2019s publications to fuel it.<\/p>\n<p>After the 2023 acquisition and reorganization of the Globes, the show got a\u00a0new broadcast home on CBS.<\/p>\n<p>Boehly, who is also part owner of sports franchises including\u00a0Chelsea FC\u00a0and the\u00a0Los Angeles Dodgers, was not named as a defendant, nor was his Eldridge Industries. The reasons weren\u2019t immediately clear, and the plaintiffs declined to comment. There was also no immediate reply to an email seeking comment from Boehly and his company.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit also alleges that Penske and Boehly manipulated and misused California\u2019s nonprofit laws. It says the Golden Globe Foundation, established as the successor to the HFPA\u2019s philanthropic arm, was used to drive down the price of the acquisition, and that it functions a de facto extension of the for-profit entity established by Penske and Boehly, Globes LLC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis latest act of duplicity is a new low, even for the HFPA,\u201d the Golden Globes statement said in response. \u201cThe attempt by former HFPA members to leverage the Golden Globe Foundation, an independent nonprofit, simply to secure Golden Globes tickets is an unfortunate distraction that inappropriately diverts resources from legitimate charitable causes.\u201dThe statement adds, \u201cWe remain troubled that the HFPA, an organization so widely criticized for ethical failures, non-inclusivity, racism, and misconduct involving talent, continues to find attorneys willing to push such illegitimate claims.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit seeks at least $150 million in damages and asks the court to cancel the agreement to dissolve the HFPA.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LOS ANGELES \u2014 Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press, which founded and for decades owned the\u00a0Golden Globe Awards, have sued Penske Media Corporation and others, alleging they engaged in fraud to acquire the valuable awards show in an attempt to create an entertainment industry monopoly. The lawsuit filed in federal court in California on Tuesday&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-6d0pecbz2-1785293323697.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1785278945&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}