A long-time member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been booted from the group just days after emailing an article to fellow members that described the Black Lives Matter organization as a “racist hate movement” while being critical of one of its co-founders, Patrisse Cullors, after she bought a $1.4 million home in Topanga Canyon in California.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the HFPA said “effective immediately,” Philip Berk, who is also an eight-term president of the organization behind the Golden Globe Awards, “is no longer a member” of the group.
Berk, 88, a white South African native, was railed on by fellow HFPA members after sending the email, the Los Angeles Times reported, which also obtained a copy of the email.
One member of Hollywood org called Berk’s email “racist,” while another said it was “vile” and still another labeled him “a thundering disgrace.”
The HPFA’s chief operations officer, Gregory Goeckner, who also got the email, declared it was “not appropriate” behavior on Berk’s part.
“I only intended to illustrate the hypocricy [sic] that engulfs us I forwarded it as a point of information I had no hidden agenda I now regret having sent it,” Berk replied.
In lashing out at Cullors, 37, for her extravagant purchase, the article also pointed out that she is a “self-proclaimed ‘trained Marxist,'” which is factually accurate. Cullors admitted as much in a video interview in 2015, adding that co-founder Alicia Garza is similarly indoctrinated.
“It’s not possible for a world to emerge where black lives matter if it’s under capitalism,” Garza said in 2015 at the left-wing convention Left Forum. “And it’s not possible to abolish capitalism without a struggle against national oppression and gender oppression.”
The Times explained: “The email lands at a sensitive time for the HFPA, which has come under pressure for not having any Black members as well as allegations of ethical and financial lapses raised in a Times investigation into the group.”
The paper went on to say that the group last month pledged to implement “transformational change” and went on to retain a strategic diversity adviser, Shaun Harper, who is a racial, gender and LGBTQ issues professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. The org also retained an outside law firm, Ropes & Gray, to conduct a review of policies, membership requirements, and bylaws.
While Berk didn’t cite a source in his email, the L.A. Times reported that it appeared to a piece originally posted online April 12 under the headline “BLM Goes Hollywood” at conservative commentator David Horowitz’s website, FrontPage Mag.
The post, written by Daniel Greenfield, took umbrage at Cullors’ purchase of the expensive property just a year after “race rioters burned buildings and terrorized communities.”
“The house is down the road from one of the homes involved in the Manson murders which seems only appropriate since Manson wanted to start a race war. And Black Lives Matter is carrying on Manson’s work,” Greenfield wrote.
In fact, other people expressed outrage at Cullors over her purchase as well, taking to social media to rip her for hypocritically rejecting capitalism while appearing to take full advantage of its economic benefits.
Well at least it should finally be clear to everyone what a fraud Patrisse Khan-Cullors is. Rather than helping the BLM chapters, her brand of Marxism is buying a $1.4M home in an upscale liberal white enclave in Los Angeles! Being a #RaceHuckster pays! Just ask Sharpton/Jackson
— Happily American (@FatSlice) April 10, 2021
“These people are f**cking scammers & capitalist state agents building wealth off state violence. We’re talking generational wealth off of the deaths & struggle of Black folks here. Justice Teams Network & BLM founder paid $1.4 million dollars for a home. This past week we bought a cot for our unhoused Black elder friend to keep him off the ground,” tweeted left-wing “Abolition + Socialist” group Vallejo for Social Justice.
“We’re talking generational wealth off of the deaths & struggle of Black folks here. Justice Teams Network & BLM founder paid $1.4 million dollars for a home,” another tweet from the group continued. “This past week we bought a cot for our unhoused Black elder friend to keep him off the ground.”
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Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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