MTV Movie and TV Awards Postponed
By George Robbins
It should be no surprise to anyone at this point that there are issues cropping up involving the coronavirus where large gatherings of people are not allowed to come together. This has been a thing since the middle of March and it is unknown just how long it will end up being before people will be allowed to gather for things again. People are going against that rule now for the sake of protests, but that still doesn’t mean that there is no risk or anything of the sort. Gatherings are still incredibly dangerous, and while some businesses have been able to adapt to the new health and safety rules, there are some that simply cannot make changes due to how they are structured.
There is almost no better example for a situation that can’t be worked on properly due to the virus than an award ceremony. More specifically, something like the MTV Movie and TV awards, since they rely on viewership to make the ceremony worth anything to them. Award ceremonies themselves can still be held, but the awards would have to be announced with no one present and the awards themselves sent to the winners. Since setting something up remotely would be far too much of a hassle and would be bound to go wrong, it would make more sense just to postpone the ceremony. This wouldn’t be the first major event to be postponed and it probably won’t be the last one either.
This pandemic is a fluid situation that is constantly changing with no clear end in sight which is resulting in more major events to be postponed or cancelled entirely if they haven’t been already. The 2021 Oscars are among the events that have yet to be postponed due to the fact that they don’t take place for another 8 months, but it is seriously being considered that they should be postponed. Many concerts have already been cancelled since there is no other way to have them than to put large crowds of people in one place for a few hours and that absolutely will not be allowed. Sporting events have been completely cancelled due to the close contact involved with them, but recently the NBA has made its announcement that they would be restarting in Walt Disney World with no crowds in attendance. There is hope yet that there are ways for people to deal with not having crowds, but for some things it is just necessary.
Like all other award ceremonies for movies or television shows, the enticing part of it is the chance for people to see the winners take to the stage and give their speeches. This is still somewhat possible through the use of livestreaming, but the chances of technical difficulties happening with something on that large a scale are high. So then why take a risk when they can simply postpone the awards and hope that things will clear up enough for the awards by December of this year when they try to have them again. This is a move the broadcast company has apparently been trying to make even before the onset of the virus. There is still the chance, however, that the awards are canceled completely this year, but like everything else at this point, it is a wait and see situation.