MTV Movie & TV Awards scrap live event due to strike
NEW YORK — The first major live awards show to air during the current writers’ strike has fallen back to a pre-recorded event as MTV Movie & TV Awards attempts to chart a festive course through a turbulent Hollywood.
The Sunday show had already lost its host, Drew Barrymore, who quit in solidarity with the writers and the show’s red carpet was rolled up. The Writers Guild has always promised to picket, meaning stars and presenters would have to walk past protesting writers to enter the room. Late Saturday, MTV dropped the live event entirely.
“We are moving away from a live event that still allows us to produce a memorable evening full of exclusive previews, irreverent categories our audiences have come to expect, and countless moments that will surprise and delight,” said Bruce. Gillmer, an executive producer of MTV, in a statement.
The best movie category includes ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, ‘Elvis’, ‘Nope’, ‘Scream VI’, ‘Smile’ and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.
The best TV shows nominated are: “Stranger Things”, “The Last of Us”, “The White Lotus”, “Wednesday”, “Wolf Pack”, “Yellowstone” and “Yellowjackets”.
One thing is already clear: Jennifer Coolidge is a winner. Coolidge – who is up for two competitive awards – will also receive the Comedic Genius award.
Coolidge hit the A-list with winning turns in both seasons of “The White Lotus” after years of comedic work in such films as “Best in Show,” “Legally Blonde” and “American Pie.” She becomes the sixth person to receive the award, which was last presented to Jack Black in 2022.
Coolidge is also up for two honors on Sunday — most scared performance for “Shotgun Wedding” and best comedic performance for “The White Lotus.”
In the individual categories, the nominees for Best Performance in a Motion Picture are: Austin Butler, “Elvis”; Florence Pugh, “Don’t Worry Honey;” KeKe Palmer, “No;” Michael B. Jordan, “Creed III”; and Tom Cruise, “Top Gun: Maverick.”
And Best Performance in a Television Show pits Aubrey Plaza, “The White Lotus”; Christina Ricci, “Yellow Vests”; Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday;” Riley Keough, “Daisy Jones” & The Six;” Sadie Sink, “Stranger Things” and Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building”.
Other categories for the Golden Popcorn Statuette include Best Hero, Best Villain, Best Comedy Performance, Best Kiss, Breakthrough Performance, Best Fight, Most Scared Performance, Best Duo, Best Song of film, the best series of competition and the best host. Two new categories this year are Best On-Screen Reality Team and Best Kick-Ass Cast.
The 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards will air Sunday on MTV with simulcasts on BET, BET Her, Comedy Central, CMT, Logo, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop, TV Land and VH1. ___
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits