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EXCLUSIVE: Protests planned to disrupt 96th Sunday’s Academy Awards could be derailed by Oscar organizers’ contingency plans.
“We are very aware of the protesters, we have a number of backup scenarios that we can activate quickly if necessary,” a senior security official who works for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said of the anti-Gaza war protesters who are gathering. Expect them to converge around Hollywood and Highland tomorrow afternoon.
“Working with our partners at LAPD, we do not anticipate any issues or delays for our guests and nominees,” the official added, looking around the fenced and already heavily guarded perimeter surrounding the Dolby Theater on Saturday afternoon as crews rushed to prepare everything for Sunday’s show.
Proclaiming “no prizes during a genocide,” a collection of pro-Palestine and pro-ceasefire groups will gather Sunday at the site of the now-closed Cinerama Dome on Sunset Blvd at 1 pm Pacific Time. “We will not allow people to turn their backs on the atrocities in Gaza. “We are taking action and making sure Palestine is NOT ignored for some glitz and glamour,” Film Workers for Palestine and SAG-AFTRA for Ceasefire declared earlier this week ahead of their self-styled “Action on Oscar Sunday.”
Details of organizers’ game plan to prevent protesters from stealing the spotlight at the March 10 Oscars are being kept under wraps. However, Deadline understands that the intention is to keep arriving attendees away from protesters flooding the streets. Since the ABC-broadcast ceremony will begin an hour earlier this year, at 4 p.m. Pacific Time, organizers’ goal is to also ensure that nominees, presenters and guests have the opportunity to walk the red carpet at the tents.
Contacted by Deadline, the Academy said Saturday it had “no comment” about the protesters or security measures.
However, strong on the streets and behind the scenes of the Oscars with Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies, this weekend the Los Angeles Police Department shed some light on just how tight security will be on Sunday.
“Officers are working closely with event organizers and law enforcement agencies, implementing comprehensive measures to ensure a safe Oscars experience for everyone,” LAPD Commander Randy Goddard said of the police’s role.
“LAPD is beefing up security to prevent disruptions by protesters,” said Cmdr. Goddard added. “LAPD will ensure the safe arrival and entry of guests to the Oscars venue, as well as maintain a safe environment for the event,” he said, also commenting that the department will hold conversations with anticipated protesters to ensure their right is respected. to meet and disagree. respected.
With the mantra of “As you watch, bombs are falling,” protesters are expected to try to march through Hollywood from the Cinerama Dome to the Oscars site, I’m told. If that march happens, protesters can expect to encounter barriers, fences and a group of more than 1,000 LAPD officers, AMPAS security and others, sources say.
As with numerous past protests since Israel responded late last year with continued punishing force for the murderous and bloody October 7 attacks by Hamas, tomorrow’s meeting wants to focus attention on the ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on what is also the first full day of the Muslim month of Ramadan.
“We will not allow ourselves to be distracted by the entertainment industry,” the coalition of protest groups said on social media in the final 24 hours before Sunday’s action. “We will continue to call for a permanent ceasefire and Palestinian liberation. Let’s mobilize and take to the streets to show that we refuse to look away from this ongoing genocide! Cease fire NOW!”
Sunday’s pre-Oscars street closures have left Hollywood Boulevard from La Brea to Wilcox completely blocked as of tonight. In fairly standard safety procedures for the Academy Awards, adjacent streets such as Hawthorn Avenue and Orange Drive will also be closed.
Ceasefire and hostage release negotiations continue today and could go all the way between the Biden administration, Israel, Hamas and moderate Arab states. At the same time, the United States and its allies are preparing to build a dock to bring humanitarian aid directly from the sea to decimated Gaza, as President Joe Biden officially announced during this week’s State of the Union address.
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While Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and others are now also calling for a ceasefire in the turbulent region, airdrops of aid and supplies into Gaza continued on Saturday for the fifth straight day. Even with widespread suffering and deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians since October, Israel has said the IDF will soon begin deeper military movements in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt. More than a million Palestinian refugees are taking shelter in Rafah after being told to leave or flee the northern part of the territory over the past five months.
Additionally, over the past five months, protesters have booed Biden at public and campaign events, attended several award ceremonies and the New Year’s Eve ball in New York, among a number of high-profile events. Most recently, pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted California Senate leader Adam Schiff’s primary victory party on March 5 in Hollywood.
Avoiding that upheaval has become a top priority for Academy Awards organizers before guests and nominees take their seats at the Dolby.
“This is an industry based on always having a Plan B,” a person connected to Sunday’s Oscars told Deadline. “Everyone has the right to protest, of course, but the show must go on, as they say.”