The U.K. tabloid The Sun posted a story to its website on Tuesday evening suggesting that the Academy is consulting A-listers about whether to proceed with the ceremony on 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 3 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 only body weighing how the Academy should proceed is the board of governors, which includes none of the individuals listed by The Sun, and the most recent determination 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 Academy’s leadership that the show should go on — in a dignified manner that would help to raise funds for and celebrate fire relief efforts.
