How have the California wildfires affected Hollywood?
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The ongoing devastation has impacted this year’s awards season, raising questions over the Oscars and Grammys. The California wildfires have to date killed at least 25 people, destroyed or damaged more than 12,000 structures and put about 300,000 people on evacuation orders. It has also had a major impact on business, most notably that of Hollywood.
![[Benjamin Lee]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/12/12/Benjamin_Lee.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Rumours have circulated online that the Oscars, set to take place on 2 March, could be postponed, but the Hollywood Reporter called these “baseless” with no changes to the date planned. “We will get through this together and bring a sense of healing to our global film community,” organisers said.
![[a woman in white poses]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e1a6d37d932d62fe56fa5fc4e26809abff1bc045/0_99_2400_1439/master/2400.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The Hacks star Jean Smart, who recently won a Golden Globe for the role, has called for the Oscars and all other awards shows this season to be seriously revised. On Instagram, she wrote: “I hope any of the networks televising the upcoming awards will seriously consider NOT televising them and donating the revenue they would have gathered to victims of the fires and the firefighters.”.
Stephen King shared her sentiment this week. “Not voting in the Oscars this year,” King wrote. “IMHO they should cancel them. No glitz with Los Angeles on fire.”. The entertainment industry is estimated to create $43bn in wages every year for the Californian economy and recent events have not only forced a pause in the short term but also raised concerns over long-term recovery.
