Source blasts report of Oscars ‘on verge of being canceled’ due to wildfires as absolute ‘fiction’
Will the show go on? A report in the U.K. tabloid The Sun insisting the Academy Awards were “on the verge of being canceled” due to fallout from the deadly Los Angeles wildfires began to gain traction online Tuesday afternoon. Citing an unnamed “insider,” the story said that the Film Academy had assembled an A-list panel of advisers who were about to implement a “highly classified” plan to call off the ceremony for the first time in its 97 years due the unprecedented blazes that have claimed at least 25 lives, destroyed more than 12,000 structures, and displaced more than 88,000. The report was amplified by other blogs and tabloids and spread on social media.
However, a source close to the Film Academy has refuted the tabloid, telling Gold Derby that The Sun‘s story is pure “fiction,” and the Oscars will go on as planned on March 2.
The Sun story erroneously claimed that “official Academy Award committees are monitoring the situation daily, led by stars including Tom Hanks, Emma Stone, Meryl Streep, and Steven Spielberg,” and they were prepared to initiate “an effective contingency strategy” — supposedly devised in the wake of 9/11 — to cancel Hollywood’s preeminent awards. Instead, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which first debunked the tabloid story, it was the Film Academy’s 55-person board of governors that determined the voting window would be extended, the announcement of the nominations pushed back from Jan. 17 to Jan. 23, the annual Oscar nominee luncheon canceled, and the Scientific and Technical Awards postponed indefinitely. But the Oscars, which have never been canceled, would remain on the calendar as scheduled.
Earlier Tuesday, the Critics Choice Awards did confirm to Gold Derby that the ceremony slated for Jan. 26 (after being moved from Jan. 12) was being postponed again to an unspecified date in February due to the devastating fires. Meanwhile, stars such as Jean Smart and Rosanna Arquette have proposed transforming the Oscars and other awards shows into wildfire relief fundraisers.
(Note: The Hollywood Reporter and Gold Derby are both owned by Penske Media Corporation.)