Oscars 2025: Should the Show Go on Amid the LA Wildfires?
The ongoing threat of wildfires in and around Los Angeles has raised an important question: should the Oscars 2025 go on amid the devastation of the LA wildfires? With the fires affecting thousands of families and communities causing destruction, should the Academy continue with the celebration or postpone or even cancel the event?
Cancelled or Postponed Awards Show
Scheduled on January 12, the 2025 Critics’ Choice Awards was postponed to January 26 then to an unconfirmed date in February. The Screen Actors Guild Awards in-person presentation of nominations was canceled, but the ceremony is still happening on February 23 with Kristen Bell as the host. Nominations for the Producers Guild Awards, GALECA Dorian Film Awards and Writers Guild Awards were also postponed, according to the New York Post.
The Oscars 2025 Are Happening
The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the Oscars 2025 will proceed on March 2, per the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences debunking the rumors that the Academy was considering cancelling the ceremony.
From an industry perspective, the Oscars are essential not just for Hollywood’s A-listers to convene in one place for a night of glitz and glamor, but also to celebrate filmmaking and the talents not just of the actors but also those professionals behind the camera. The Oscars also provide a platform for the entertainment world and raise significant revenue for the city, and freelance creatives who get paid for their photos, videos and other media content during important events. Not to mention the stylists, the limousine drivers, florists and other workers who make a living during awards season.
However, with the scale of the devastation caused by the wildfires with celebrities evacuating and losing their homes, should the Oscars 2025 continue as planned? Would it come off as tone-deaf while so many people are trying to rebuild their lives?
Calls for Cancelation
Stephen King, the “King of Horror” wrote on Bluesky, “Not voting in the Oscars this year. IMHO they should cancel them. No glitz with Los Angeles on fire.”
Some fans agreed but one commenter pointed out, “The workers had months, YEARS without pay due to covid, then to union negotiations. And now the fires. You’re wrong in this one. Support the industry.”
Jean Smart, the Golden Globes awardee did not call for the Oscars to be cancelled, but rather for TV networks to not air any award shows and instead donate the revenue to first responders and victims, via her Instagram account.
Her post received backlash. One commenter wrote, “If these awards didn’t happen then I wouldn’t have a job. Please think before you post.” Another wrote, “You’re literally advocating to take away the paychecks of thousands of people that work on these shows. These are the very same people whose homes have been lost.”
