When you sat down to watch Emily in Paris on Netflix back in October, you probably didn’t think it was going to be kicking up a ton of controversy during awards season, because that would mean it’d actually be…nominated for an award. Listen, Emily in Paris is a delight to watch. It’s the very definition of ambient TV. Lily Collins wears a bunch of outfits that would make Carrie Bradshaw jealous, her costar Lucas Bravo is hotter than a croissant straight outta the oven, and all the gorgeous shots of Paris are enough to make all of us couch-bound folks weep.
But still, this show-with-a-name-that-definitely-rhymes receiving *two* Golden Globe nominations (most significantly, Best TV Series: Comedy) was certainly a…surprise! And fans and critics alike have questions. Starting with…
Why Did It Get Nominated Over Other, Arguably Better, Shows?
There were several baffling Golden Globes snubs this year, including Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You and Issa Rae’s Insecure. The fact that Emily in Paris was nominated points to a dismaying trend: Critically acclaimed shows centered on Black women aren’t getting the recognition they deserve. Like, Emily in Paris got a 63 percent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I May Destroy You? Ninety-eight percent. Twitter was quick to point out the disparity:
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Even Emily in Paris writer Deborah Copaken wrote an op-ed about how unacceptable this is, saying, “That I May Destroy You did not get one Golden Globe nod is not only wrong, it’s what is wrong with everything.”
So, How Did This Happen?
Emily in Paris’s nomination is symptomatic of broader concerns among viewers about how the Golden Globes even work. Like, who decides which series get nominated? And why did they pick Emily in Paris over other shows that were more critically acclaimed?
The answer is (1) the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a small group (under 100 members) of international journalists with zero Black members, and (2) uh, potentially because of a fancy press trip? According to a pretty damning report in the L.A. Times, Paramount flew more than 30 members of the HFPA to Paris for an Emily in Paris set visit. They stayed at a 5-star hotel that costs $1,400 per night and were quite literally wined and dined.
One member who attended the set visit said “they treated us like kings and queens,” leading to speculation that Emily in Paris essentially paid to play. And another HFPA member who didn’t attend said, “There was a real backlash and rightly so—that show doesn’t belong on any best of 2020 list. It’s an example of why many of us say we need change. If we continue to do this, we invite criticism and derision.”
So…why are people upset about Emily in Paris being nominated? Because the nomination seems to have come as a result of perks and at the expense of other shows that, frankly, deserved it more.
