The crushing strikes by Hollywood’s actors and writers have been extended with no end in sight, the organizers of the Emmy Awards announced Thursday, forcing the ceremony to be postponed by nearly four months.
According to a joint announcement from broadcaster Fox and the Television Academy, the Oscars of television will now take place in mid-January of the following year instead of this September as originally planned.
“We are pleased to announce that the 75th Emmy Awards will now air on Monday, 15 January, 2024,” said a Fox spokesman.
The Emmys are the biggest entertainment event to be postponed thus far as a result of Hollywood’s first industry-wide strike by writers and actors in more than 60 years.
The last time the Emmys were postponed was in 2001, after the 9/11 attacks, when the ceremony was rescheduled.
A-list celebrities and nominees are now prohibited from attending the Emmys due to the ongoing actors’ strike; this scenario would be devastating for television viewership.
Additionally, writers would not be permitted to prepare a monologue or jokes for the host and presenters of the program. The protracted hold-up is meant to give both parties some opportunity to work out their issues.
Since the authors’ strike started 100 days ago, there hasn’t been much communication between the parties through any official means.
Negotiators from the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are scheduled to meet with studio representatives once more on Friday.
Last month, the much larger Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) started its own strike; negotiations with studios have not yet been resumed.
In addition to improved pay, both unions want assurances that artificial intelligence won’t take their jobs or money.
There have been rumors of an Emmys postponement in recent weeks, but neither the postponement nor a new date have been officially announced.
The Emmys air in the thick of Hollywood’s busy film awards season, in mid-January.
The Emmys, which were originally scheduled for the US federal holiday Martin Luther King Jr. Day, will now occur one week after the Golden Globes and just one day after the Critics’ Choice Awards.
The Oscar nominations will be revealed a week after, and the Oscar ceremony is scheduled for March 10.
