It’s business as usual in Tinseltown. As in – everyone makes fun of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) but still kowtows to the annual Golden Globes fanfare (2010 nominations are out tomorrow).

It really doesn’t matter that Rescue Me‘s Peter Tolan called the organization “a bunch of whores” last Wednesday, or that The Wrap leaked an accusatory letter this weekend from bounced publicist Michael Russell. Nor is it too concerning for the HFPA that Roger Friedman has an item today about seven members taking credited roles in Sofia Coppola‘s newest movie.

Frankly, each and every one of group’s 93 members could simultaneously be involved in a sordid sex scandal and Hollywood would still show up for the party. Why? Because it’s a great and now entrenched celebration, the only time that both TV and film stars share the same room on such a grandiose basis, with lots of free booze flowing.

The fact that the HFPA is having Ricky Gervais back as Golden Globes show host after he viciously mocked the organization is a reminder of  just how dysfunctional their relationship with Hollywood is. They know they’re a joke; Hollywood knows they’re a joke. And come January, stars will be gathered once again on the Beverly Hilton red carpet, ready to enter laughing.