The Motion Picture Academy Museum has called off Saturday’s annual gala.
“Out of respect for the devastating conflict and loss of life happening overseas, we have made the decision to postpone the Academy Museum gala this Saturday. We look forward to rescheduling at a later date. We thank everybody deeply for their support.”
This year’s gala honorees included Meryl Streep, Michael B. Jordan, Oprah Winfrey and Sofia Coppola.
The guest was all A list with expected guests like Tom Hanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Goldie Hawn.
But the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza makes it impossible to have a huge celebration. Earlier in the day the Academy Museum call off the red carpet. But now they’ve scuttled the whole event until sometime in the future. The Museum certainly needs this fundraiser to be a success but having it now is obviously unwise.
Right now, the Academy has also moved its Governors Awards to early January because of the SAG strike. But now that the studios have walked away from negotiations, the fear is that event will also have to be moved. It’s hard to imagine the SAG strike continuing past the end of the year, but the union is adamant that they must be paid fairly. The longer the studios hold out, the less chance of new content existing for 2024.