GLAAD Media Awards Postpones Los Angeles Ceremony After Recent Coronavirus Developments – Update

Dino-Ray Ramos
·4 min read

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UPDATE: Last week, GLAAD canceled the New York City ceremony for the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards, and now LGBTQ advocacy organization has postponed the Los Angeles ceremony that had been set for April 16. GLAAD is looking to reschedule for later this year.

GLAAD’s Rich Ferraro, Chief Communications Officer and an Executive Producer of the GLAAD Media Awards, issued the following statement:

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In accordance with guidelines put in place by Governor Gavin Newsom, the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles are no longer taking place in April and we are working to reschedule the event to the fall.

With the GLAAD Media Awards and some LGBTQ Pride celebrations being canceled or postponed, it is so crucial that our community supports one another during this time. We look forward to hosting an event later this year to celebrate the community, especially as we head into one of the most important elections in this nation’s history.

GLAAD is proud to honor the work and advocacy efforts of Janet Mock and Taylor Swift at this year’s Los Angeles ceremony. They have made incredible strides for LGBTQ acceptance, and we look forward to celebrating their trailblazing work later this year.

PREVIOUS: The 31st GLAAD Media Awards in New York is the latest Hollywood event that has been canceled due to coronavirus concerns. The event was set for March 19.

As announced on GLAAD’s website and social media channels, the event “will no longer occur next week following new guidance from the New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo around COVID-19.

GLAAD’s Rich Ferraro, Chief Communications Officer and an Executive Producer of the GLAAD Media Awards released a statement saying, “The team at GLAAD has been in communication with the City of New York and is following the latest recommendations from Governor Cuomo.”

During the gala, they were planning on unveiling their get-out-the-vote campaign because “everything is at stake for LGBTQ Americans this election year, and are hopeful that the program and GLAAD’s ongoing work to fight against anti-LGBTQ discrimination will continue to be supported and funded.” That said, GLAAD’s advocacy work will experience a loss of funding and the organization is encourating members of the LGTBQ community and allies to becoming a GLAAD member.

Lilly Singh was set to host the event which included honorees Judith Light and Ryan Murphy. GLAAD said they will recognize their trailblazing efforts at another time.

The statement continued: “We will be in touch with nominees shortly with plans for how award categories scheduled for the New York show will be announced, acknowledging that a GLAAD Media Award nomination or win can raise the bar for LGBTQ representation and serve as a catalyst for media executives to greenlight additional LGBTQ projects.”

As of now, the Los Angeles edition of the GLAAD Media Awards on April 16 has yet to be canceled. GLAAD is in touch with public health officials and will provide an update in the upcoming weeks.

The news comes after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic. There has been a growing list of postponed and canceled events since the outbreak including SXSW, Coachella, Bentonville Film Festival and NewFronts. Productions of Survivor, Mission: Impossible 7 and Falcon and the Winter Soldier have also been delayed while late-night shows have opted to tape without audiences.

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