HOLLYWOOD—There has been chatter, and I’m starting to think the chatter might ignite like a massive blaze. The wildfires in Southern California are devastating the state, and many of the people that live in it, notably a ton of celebrities who have lost their homes and businesses as a result. The Critics Choice Awards was postponed TWICE now, the Writers Guild and Producers Guild of America nominees are seeing delays in nominations, as have the Oscar nominations that were to be revealed this week, but has been pushed back almost a week by now, and could be even later.

Do Americans care about Awards shows? Simple answer is no, they don’t. A lot of the time they are boring as hell, but worst they are just too long. They are. I don’t want to sit and watch a show for three hours. No one actually wants to do that because it is valuable time that you cannot get back. I remember a lot of the award shows used to manage to keep things under two hours, in the past few years, they are pushing to the three hours if not longer mark. The Oscars have always been pretty long, I think the longest ceremony was beyond four hours, almost knocking at four hours and 30 minutes. However, in recent years they have found a way to keep it under three hours which is great. I mean it is the pinnacle of all awards that can be bestowed upon a thespian in the entertainment industry.

With that said, the Grammys are slated for February 2, and while recent news has noted they will not be delayed it will turn more into a fundraiser for those impacted by the wildfires in California, it is probably an awards show that is easily going to be four plus hours and will bore the absolute hell out of viewers. Actress Jean Smart said something that is pivotal, scrap awards season and just raise funds for those impacted.

I’m sorry, I just don’t see a ton of celebrities especially actors who have lost their homes wanting to sit at a ceremony and receive an award for work they did in a movie or TV show, when they have just lost their homes. They have other things of importance as the focal point right now. Hollywood has always been vain, and just pushing down the awards shows through the American public’s throats just feels icky. I do feel like many celebrities are not going to show up to these ceremonies because there is something bigger at play than an actual award.

It is nice and you want to be acknowledged for your work, regardless of what industry you work in. However, I think it is better when you don’t have those distractions and unfortunately right now there are way too many distractions to focus on accolades especially when a lot of individuals, not just celebrities no longer have a home. Even for the celebrities who have the money to rebuild it is going to take time to rebuild. It is not going to happen overnight, it just isn’t that is a reality I think a lot of people are not realizing, and let’s not even chat about what some of these greedy insurance companies are up to.

Awards season comes every year, it doesn’t really change. It did during the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and guess what, we still survived. I think a year off might do good, it will show to the rest of the world that celebrities are indeed just like us, and at the end of the day an award is just that, an award.