Intro for January 14, 2025

Dear Gossips,   

It was a week ago today that the Palisades fire broke out and it remains largely uncontained. High winds over the next few days are challenging the progress that firefighters have made as another fire, the Auto fire had burned through 56 acres as of this morning. As Sarah wrote yesterday in this space, Hollywood is continuing to make adjustments in award season as the situation develops. 

Of course the priorities right now are safety and fire containments, but as we have written repeatedly over the last week, award season goes much deeper than pretty dresses and who wins trophies. So much of LA’s economy depends on the entertainment industry and so many seasonal workers depend on the business of award season and the production of Hollywood events and programs to pay their bills. As of yesterday, when Sarah posted the site open, the Producers Guild had pushed back their announcement. Later in the day, the Oscar Academy confirmed a second postponement. The voting period has now been extended to this Friday with nominations announced on Thursday 23 January, televised but with no media in attendance. 

Per The Hollywood Reporter, four Academy governors and the Academy’s former CEO have lost their homes. One of those governors, Brook Breton, from the visual effects branch, “still insisted on helping to preside over her branch’s “bakeoff” — a showcase for people behind shortlisted films to talk about their work — that took place virtually on Saturday” and believes that the show must go on. 

The Grammys will go on and they will go on in Los Angeles on February 2, as schedule, at Crypto Arena with a “renewed sense of purpose” about the impact of music. As noted in a statement by the Recording Academy: 

"In response to this crisis, the Recording Academy and MusiCares launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort last week with an initial $1 million donation to support music creatives and professionals. Thanks to additional contributions, we have already distributed over $2 million in emergency aid to those most in need — and we remain steadfast in our commitment to providing ongoing assistance." 

The Grammys telecast, then, will not only be an event to heal and bring people together, but also, probably a telethon to raise additional funds. 

And this is what many are presuming that the Oscars will become, if they move ahead with the event. Steven Zeitchik wrote a whole piece yesterday at THR about how the Oscars could take this opportunity to, as Rosanna Arquette told Variety, “[use] art to rebuild” and honour the efforts of first responders. 

For any and all of these shows though, every rundown is now scrapped and they’re starting from scratch. This in and of itself could be a documentary. And if that means hiring crew and producers and editors and musicians who’ve lost their homes to work on it, even better. 

Speaking of, um, show production though…

The inauguration is on Monday and that, too, is a show of sorts. Four years ago at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, America’s first-even youth poet laureate delivered a poem called “For There Is Always Light” and became a star herself. Amanda Gorman is from Los Angeles and she released a new poem, “Smoldering Dawn” as a fundraiser for the California Fire Foundation. 

Amanda is celebrating the human spirit and its great possibility, especially in solidarity. We are better, together, is the message. Which is what… um… Carrie Underwood was trying to say in her statement after it was announced yesterday that she will perform “America the Beautiful” at the inauguration:

“I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future.”

Sure, but will the incoming president be a president who governs not just for those who voted for him but also for those who didn’t? This is a person who has in the past threatened to withhold disaster relief from places who don’t kiss his ass. So to go back to Carrie and her spirit of unity – these are words that sound good but they have never applied to the man whose call she answered. 

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey