| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Oscars to go on as planned -- for now
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The Oscars will go on as scheduled Sunday, barring any major incidents related to the U.S.-led war against Iraq, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Frank Pierson said Friday. At a news conference with show producer, Gil Cates, Pierson said they are continuing efforts to bring the 75th Academy Awards show together as planned at The Kodak Theater in Hollywood. "As you saw on the last two nights, the situation is so unpredictable that we want, like the president himself, to keep our options open and to be flexible. So I'm not going to speculate under what conditions we might or might not postpone," Pierson said. Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has said the Kodak Theater will be among the safest places to be in the country Sunday, and Pierson said there are no worries about security. "But we are most certainly concerned about the feelings of our audiences at home and abroad and of the members of the Academy," he said. "We will be watching what is happening hour by hour, and in the meantime, all of our crew, nominees, presenters and past Oscar winners, Steve Martin, our host, are all here and preparing like us for Sunday night," he added. The 75th Oscars are scheduled to be broadcast live by ABC beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Cates has said that ABC may adjust to war coverage if it is required and that the network will cover news as it happens. He added that any decisions in regard to broadcasting the show will be made jointly by the Academy and ABC. With war looming, organizers Tuesday decided to cancel the splashy red-carpet arrivals of celebrities for Sunday. They attributed the move to a desire for a more sober ceremony and requests from celebrity attendees not to address reporters as they arrive. The entertainment industry's glitzy awards shows have been impacted several times since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the start of the nation's war on terrorism. Television's Emmy Awards were delayed twice in 2001, initially because the program was scheduled just a few days after the terrorist attacks, and then because the rescheduled date coincided with the start of the U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan. A toned-down Emmy show finally aired in November. Celebrities wore business attire rather than evening gowns and tuxedos. The Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences canceled its September 11, 2001, Latin Grammys show. The Oscars have never been canceled in its 75-year history, but the ceremony has been postponed three times. The Awards was were delayed for one day in 1981 because the event was scheduled the day President Reagan was shot. The assassination of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 pushed the ceremony back two days. Massive flooding in Los Angeles delayed the Oscars by a week in 1938. The ceremony went on throughout World War II but on a less ostentatious level.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
