Tony Awards Will Not Broadcast on June 11, WGA Strike Waiver Denied
The 76th Annual Tony Awards will not be televised live June 11, due to the striking Writers Guild of America, the Hollywood Reporter announced.
The WGA denied a request for a waiver filed earlier this week to allow the ceremony to air as planned. A two-part show had been scheduled, with a pre-show of performances billed as The Tony Awards: Act One streaming live on Pluto TV, Paramount Global’s FAST platform. The main awards ceremony was set to broadcast live on CBS and on Paramount+.
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On May 15, The Tony Awards Management Committee announced plans to appeal to the Writers Guild of America, per the Hollywood Reporter. The committee will request that the guild not picket the awards ceremony, which would allow them to move forward with the broadcast, after all. This request is further complicated by the uncertainty of whether invited talent would even consider crossing picket lines to attend.
This decision arrived following an emergency meeting with the management committee to determine next steps, per the report. Voting for the awards ceremony is still scheduled to begin on May 16.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, there are two possible outcomes being considered: A non-televised, smaller ceremony on June 11 or a postponed ceremony that would take place after the writers strike has ended.
Broadway nominations were revealed earlier this month, with Some Like It Hot leading with 13 nods including Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. It will contend for Best Musical against & Juliet, Kimberly Akimbo, New York, New York, and Shucked.
Ariana DeBose — who won an Oscar, a BAFTA, and a SAG Award a couple of years back for her performance of Anita in West Side Story — was set to host the Tony Awards for a second year in a row.
The MTV Movie & TV Awards, which are typically aired live, was also disrupted in the wake of the strike after several presenters and nominees skipped the event and refused to cross the picket line in solidarity. On May 7, organizers of the awards show announced it was opting for a pre-taped special.
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