Former HFPA President Shares Email Calling Black Lives Matter a "Hate Movement"

Credit: HFPA
The Hollywood Foreign Press needs to do an internal audit. 

Phil Berk served eight terms as the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. They were years mired in controversy, not the least of which was his alleged sexual harassment of Brendan Fraser

Now, he's in hot water again. 

He sent an email to HFPA members on Sunday which contains inflammatory remarks about Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors and likens BLM to a hate group. The crux of the email focuses on Cullors buying a home in the Hollywood Hills. 

Berk shared an article called “BLM Goes Hollywood'' in the email. The article is on Frontpage Mag, part of the David Horowitz Freedom Center website, which shares conservative views.

Part of the original article reads: "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."

The original article calls BLM a “racist hate movement” and describes Cullors as “an amateur Marxist.”

The forwarded article was sent out to the association’s members, staff, and the group’s general counsel and chief operating officer, Gregory Goeckner.

This email was met with horror and anger from many members, who were very upset at Berk's words. They asked to be removed from the thread or called Berk out on his inflammatory remarks. But Berk fired back at them in exchanges you can read in the Los Angeles Times

The HFPA has been in trouble for having no Black members and lacking diversity overall. This email is coming out amidst their attempts to rectify that and adds more pressure and controversy to the situation. 

Berk is 88 years old and represents what the HFPA hopes is the past of their organization. But they have not been great at rehabbing their perception for the moment or toward the future.

In a statement, the HFPA said: “Since its inception, the HFPA has dedicated itself to bridging cultural connections and creating further understanding of different backgrounds through film and TV. The views expressed in the article circulated by Mr. Berk are those of the author of the article and do not—in any way shape or form—reflect the views and values of the HFPA. The HFPA condemns all forms of racism, discrimination, and hate speech and finds such language and content unacceptable.”

Let us know what you think in the comments.      

Your Comment

3 Comments

BLM is a known communist group that uses the sensitive topics of the black community as a front to push their marxist views. BLM also takes orders from the democratic party along with Antifa. These groups needs to be permanently removed from society.

April 20, 2021 at 9:14AM

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BLM 2000% creating far more racism. It’s a totally counter productive movement. It definitely hurts the people it’s allegedly championing.

April 20, 2021 at 10:18AM

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Bishop
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African American male here, late twenties. Black lives matter is absolutely an out of control hate fueled movement and more people need to stand up to them. The answer to racism isn't more racism and if you work hard and educate yourself you can go as far as any other race. Yeah the start points are not perfectly even, but this isn't the 60's and minorities are not getting fire-hosed and lynched like these socialists would have you believe. The tone of this article is wrong.

April 20, 2021 at 11:43AM, Edited April 20, 11:43AM

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As a black man, these kinds of posts are incredibly racist and offensive. NFS should stick to writing about film basics instead of trying to push this Marxist ideology/hatred that has become so prevalent in every single mainstream media blog these days.

April 21, 2021 at 2:07PM

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