In March 2021, Asi publicly accused the HFPA of being racist amid industry-wide criticisms of the group's lack of diversity. Getty Images The Golden Globes soap opera never ends….
On Tuesday morning, a wild scene played out inside the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles that seemed to even stymie a seasoned judge.
Former Hollywood Foreign Press Association member Husam “Sam” Asi was poised to be hauled away in handcuffs for allegedly being in contempt in a years-long case pitting him against his one-time Golden Globes brethren.
But Asi, represented by a public defender, staved off that fate and instead pleaded with Judge Daniel Crowley to first consider a different lawsuit, filed last month by former HFPA members in federal court against new Globes owner Jay Penske as well as Gregory Goeckner, the former Golden Globe Foundation CEO. That suit, he said, undermines the HFPA’s entire defense.
A quick history: Asi’s case has been working its way through the court for four years. But his issues with the HFPA go back even further. In March 2021, the Israeli-born Palestinian journalist publicly accused the HFPA of being racist amid industry-wide criticisms of the group’s lack of diversity. Less than a year later, TheWrap published a story on him, claiming he sexually harassed three members of the organization.
Three months later, he sued the HFPA for retaliation, claiming he was sexually harassed and called a “terrorist” and an “angry Arab” by members of the group. He also claimed that the HFPA “weaponized” false sexual misconduct allegations against him in retaliation for speaking out against the group. Asi wound up being ordered to cover the HFPA’s legal fees after a series of courtroom losses.
Over the ensuing years, Penske and Eldridge Industries CEO Todd Boehly teamed to buy the Golden Globes and turned it into a for-profit enterprise. The HFPA was dissolved, though some members migrated to the Globes 2.0.
“The HFPA, in its new lawsuit, admitted everything I alleged,” Asi said yesterday in court regarding the Penske suit. “Every discovery they filed [in my case], every response was based on perjury.”
Goeckner had given key testimony in Asi v. HFPA. But now Goeckner is on the outs with the group. Eight days after the federal suit was filed by HFPA alums in a bid to win back the awards, the Golden Globe Foundation board fired Goeckner.
Asi went on a long spiel about Goeckner to the judge, ending with: “This person does not work for the HFPA… he’s not there. He was fired from all his positions, and he’s now being sued by the HFPA itself.”
(At Tuesday’s hearing, Goeckner was on the video call watching the proceedings, as was new foundation president and interim CEO Raffi Boghosian, who allegedly orchestrated a “coup” to remove Goeckner, we previously reported.)
“I don’t know what to make of it,” Judge Crowley said, looking confused.
Judge Crowley floated one option: Go to trial. Asi answered repeatedly, “Yes.”
One of the many Latham & Watkins attorneys on hand for the HFPA shot that idea down quickly. “We want an opportunity to move for summary judgment so that we don’t have to go through that circus,” the lawyer said.
Asi shot back: “They’ve been threatening with this summary judgment for three years, and they never filed it. I wish they did, but they never did. I wonder why? You offered them to dismiss the case. They’re not even doing that. Why? Because they know they cannot do that, and they want to stay here, hoping that you will just crush me.”
Judge Crowley didn’t rule on Asi allegedly being in contempt for refusing to satisfy the court’s seven-figure judgement against him and ultimately kicked the can down the road another three months. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Nov. 18.
“The Sam Asi case keeps stumbling along for years, exemplifying the almost comic chaos of what used to simply be a sketchy awards org who every year threw a great party,” says one source familiar with the case. “Sam is the fly in the ointment, and his case is like stepping into an Alice in Wonderland world of competing claims of duplicity, subterfuge and chicanery.”
