It seems there is never a dull moment at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
On Tuesday, Magnus Sundholm, an L.A.-based journalist for the Swedish daily Aftonbladet and a member of the HFPA since 2008, was expelled by the organization behind the Golden Globe Awards, the Los Angeles Times reported, and The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Sundholm was sent packing after the HFPA learned in September that he had filed paperwork with the IRS in February indicating that he was authorized to represent the organization in matters before the tax agency.
Sundholm and his attorney, David Quinto, insist that it was an honest mistake — the result of Quinto giving Sundholm unclear instructions about how to file a whistleblower complaint against the HFPA, of which Sundholm has been a vocal critic.
But, following a disciplinary hearing over Zoom on Monday, the HFPA board “unanimously voted to expel” Sundholm, HFPA president Helen Hoehne told the organization’s members in an email obtained by the Times.
Sundholm has indicated that he attempted to file the whistleblower complaint because his girlfriend, Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa, sued the HFPA in 2020, arguing that she and other qualified journalists had been denied admission to the organization for corrupt reasons, and he feared retribution.
Flaa’s suit was dismissed last November but is being appealed. Sundholm believes that resentment from his fellow HFPA members led to the verdict he was rendered this week.
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