By Sean O' Driscoll

The editor of Belfast’s Big Buzz magazine has blamed the organizers of the annual Golden Globes Awards in Hollywood for the suicide of journalist Nick Douglas.

Douglas hanged himself at a Belfast charity shop after he was suspended from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), organizers of the Golden Globes, for selling a photograph of actor Tom Selleck for $50.

Douglas, a much loved and larger than life character, had suffered serious depression as a result of the suspension from the association, the voting body for the Golden Globes.

Membership of the group has long been coveted in Hollywood and remains a mystery, with obscure publications allowed in and major world newspapers such as The Times of London and France’s Le Monde kept out.

Douglas’ suspension followed an ongoing argument with journalist Scott Orlin, who writes for German publications.

According to Big Buzz editor Barry O’Kane, Douglas told him that the dispute started when Douglas was overheard telling another journalist that Orlin should not have been entitled to a promotion within the HFPA.

Orlin later complained that Douglas had sold a photograph of himself meeting Selleck for $50, which is against HFPA rules. Orlin also allegedly accused Douglas of walking away with unopened beers from a party hosted by film giant MGM.

O’Kane said that Douglas should never has been suspended for such petty charges. “They took everything away from him for that. He deserved a lot better,” he said.

O’Kane said he would love to have some time along with Orlin to explain the harm that had been caused.

“I would have a few things to say to him. I don’t think Nick should have been put under that kind of pressure,” he said.

O’Kane said that the privilege of being a member of the HFPA came at too high a price, with too much rivalry to join.

Membership of the 85-member strong organization guarantees open access to the Hollywood stars and free film junkets around the world. Film companies are eager to please the Golden Globe judges, as the awards are widely seen as a strong indication of Oscar viability.

However, journalists such as Sharon Waxman at The New York Times have long argued that the organization has unclear membership rules and lacks accountability.

O’Kane said he remembered when he first learned that Douglas has been suspended from the organization.

“He was back in Belfast, he came over four or five times a year. He had bottled a lot of things up so I sat him down and I said, ‘What the f*** is up?’ He told me everything.

“He told me had been suspended for a year and had been suspended from travelling with the organization for two years. The travel was everything, it meant going around the world to film sets and press conferences. Basically it was his livelihood.”

Douglas decided to sell his LA apartment and move back to Belfast after the suspension.

“He was a lost soul in Belfast. He always had a celebrity aura about him and that was gone. He felt he had lost everything he had built up over 12 or 13 years,” O’Kane said.

A spokesman at the HFPA’s publicists, the Michael Russell Group, said that the HFPA did not comment on its internal procedures.