As Los Angeles burns, Hollywood’s awards season turns into a pledge drive

Associated Press/PBS ^ | Jan 14, 2025 | Jake Coyle, Lindsay Bahr

[CondoleezzaProtege]

When the Palisades Fire broke out in Los Angeles last Tuesday, Hollywood's awards season was in full swing. The Golden Globes had transpired less than 48 hours earlier and a series of splashy awards banquets followed in the days after.

But the enormity of the destruction in Southern California has quickly snuffed out all festiveness in the movie industry's high season of celebration. At one point, the flames even encroached on the hillside above the Dolby Theatre, the home of the Academy Awards.

The fires have struck at the very heart of a movie industry still trying to stabilize itself after years of pandemic, labor turmoil and technological upheaval. Not for the first time this decade, the Oscars are facing the question of: Should the show go on? And if it does, what do they mean now?

"With ALL due respect during Hollywood's season of celebration, I hope any of the networks televising the upcoming awards will seriously consider NOT televising them and donating the revenue they would have gathered to victims of the fires and the firefighters," "Hacks" star Jean Smart, a recent Globe winner, wrote on Instagram.

The Oscars remain as scheduled, but it's certain that they will be transformed due to the wildfires, and that most of the red-carpet pomp that typically stretches between now and then will be curtailed if not altogether canceled. With so many left without a home by the fires, there's scant appetite for the usual self-congratulatory parades of the season.

Focus has turned, instead, to what the Oscars might symbolize for a traumatized Los Angeles.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Gee, I’ll have to see what I can come up with!

[PGR88]

[FlingWingFlyer]

The Hollylibs have to figure out how to replace that 1.5 Billion Harris spent.

[A Navy Vet]

Interesting how reality can interfere with their repetitive slaps on the back. I never watch the Awards season anymore. I got to where I just wanted to slap all those narcissistic hambones right in the face. They use to be fun, but now with their need to preach their various WOKE shit, they can go away.

Still, the Wife loves to watch the Red Carpet and the outfits. Fair enough.

[xp38]

Been a long time here too since I watched. We used to have fun FR threads snarking on them back some 15 to 20 years ago but again that was then this is now.

[metmom]

The fires have struck at the very heart of a movie industry still trying to stabilize itself after years of pandemic, labor turmoil and technological upheaval. Not for the first time this decade, the Oscars are facing the question of: Should the show go on? And if it does, what do they mean now?

Hollywood these days could burn to the ground and the country would be better off without their propaganda and filth.