Oscar Ceremony Bans Zoom Acceptance Speeches; In-Person Attendance Mandatory For Nominees

The producers of this year’s Oscars have told nominees that they need to be in attendance to accept their trophy at this year’s ceremony. Unlike the Golden Globes telecast, Zoom acceptance speeches will not be accepted [via Yahoo Finance].

The April 25 telecast will be held at Los Angeles’ Union Station with only nominees, their guests and presenters in attendance. In a letter to the Oscar nominees, the show’s producers plainly state that COVID-19 will not interfere with an in-person event.

“We are going to great lengths to provide a safe and enjoyable evening for all of you in person, as well as for all the millions of film fans around the world, and we feel the virtual thing will diminish those efforts,” the letter stated.

“For those of you unable to attend because of scheduling or continued uneasiness about traveling, we want you to know there will not be an option to Zoom in for the show. We are going to great lengths to provide a safe and ENJOYABLE evening for all of you in person, as well as for all the millions of film fans around the world, and we feel the virtual thing will diminish those efforts.”

Like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler said “Could this whole night have been an email? Yes.” Obviously, the Oscars are desperate for their ratings not to sink to near-catastrophic levels. I'm guessing they think that seeing all of the celebs "live" and in one room is more appealing than seeing a ton of Zoom screens, which makes sense, but also neglects the Mai reason why most awards shows’ ratings are tanking: nobody cares about them anymore.

As mentioned, this attempt at “normalcy” for this year’s Oscars comes as the Golden Globes and Grammys nabbed historic-lows in terms of ratings, with nominees sheltered at home and attending via Zoom — this resulted in technical glitches and faux-pas. Exhibit A: Daniel Kaluuya accepting his Best Supporting Actor award while his Zoom screen was still muted.