Amid the chaos of the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires, some in the media are spreading baseless lies suggesting that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is seriously considering cancelling the 97th Oscars ceremony, which is scheduled to take place in Hollywood on Sunday, March 2.
The U.K. tabloid newspaper The Sun posted a story to its website on Tuesday evening, which was picked up by the Drudge Report and went viral, that it advertised as “Exclusive” and headlined: “OSCARS THREAT Oscars 2025 on verge of being cancelled as bosses secretly plot major changes to ceremony after LA wildfires.” The piece went on to claim that “A secret ‘contingency strategy’ is in place for the March 3rd Awards to be called off” — getting the date wrong — and elaborated, “The Oscars awards ceremony is on the verge of being cancelled for the first time in its 96-year history… Official Academy Award committees are monitoring the situation daily, led by stars including Tom Hanks, Emma Stone, Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg.”
The Hollywood Reporter has spoken with senior figures at the Academy, as well as individuals close to some of the aforementioned A-listers, and can categorically report that no such plan is being contemplated and no such advisory committee exists.
The only body currently weighing how the Academy should proceed is the organization’s 55-person board of governors, which currently includes none of the individuals listed by The Sun, and the most recent determination of which — announced on Monday — is that the date of the Oscars ceremony, now 47 days away, will not be shifting.
The board — which includes four individuals who lost their homes in the fires — did, however, extend the Oscar nominations voting window; push back the announcement of the Oscar nominations; cancel this year’s Oscar Nominees Luncheon; and postpone the Scientific and Technical Awards.
Any change to the Oscars ceremony itself would require significant consultation between the Academy and its longtime broadcasting partner, ABC. And it is currently the prevailing sentiment within the leadership of the Academy and ABC that the show should go on — in a dignified manner that would help to raise funds for and celebrate fire relief efforts.
A handful of high-profile industry figures who are members of the Academy have raised questions about the propriety of proceeding — Hacks star Jean Smart suggested that televised award shows should be canceled and their backers should donate “the revenue they would have gathered to the victims of the fires and the firefighters,” while writer Stephen King declared that he won’t vote for this year’s Oscars: “No glitz with Los Angeles on fire.”
But both received considerable pushback from others in the business, which has been reeling in the aftermath of COVID and strikes. Moreover, the Oscars ceremony, for which about 1,000 locals are employed, has never been “canceled” — not during World War II, or even during the darkest days of COVID, during which it was held in a pared-down manner. And again, there is currently no internal momentum to cancel the edition slated for March 2.
The article in The Sun
Jan. 16, 10:15 a.m. Updated to include Jean Smart, Stephen King comments.
