Next year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony will feature an all-female line-up of presenters, for the first time in the show’s history.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, all 13 awards will be presented by women at the 24th annual SAG Awards, which are set to take place on January 21st. Frozen star Kristen Bell on hosting duties. Previously, a man and a woman have always been paired up when presenting.
‘Culturally, there’s always been a conversation about equality. Now there’s some mega-spotlights on this conversation and dare I say, some pyrotechnics in the background,’ Bell told the New York Times when the news was announced. ‘I’m not the first female host. I’m the first host. The fact that a female was chosen to be the first one means my genitals become irrelevant.’
‘An awards show is not as serious as the conversation deserves to be. And this night will celebrate women more than any other SAG Awards has and possibly more than any other show has,’ she added.
For the show’s executive producer Kathy Connell, this move is a tribute to the women in Hollywood who’ve spoken out about the harassment endemic to their industry. ‘Beginning with the Women’s March in January, it’s been the year of the woman. This is a unifying salute to women who have been very brave and speaking up,’ she told THR.
She did, however, go on to add that this decision isn’t meant as a snub to men in the film industry. ‘We don’t want to slight the men who have given great performances this year. Knowing our membership, I’m sure our men will embrace the opportunity to honour women,’ she said.
This certainly won’t be the only female-fronted protest to take place during awards season. A new report suggests that women attending the Golden Globes ceremony next year will wear black to stand against sexual assault and harassment.
‘This movement is spreading rampantly and pretty much all the nominated women and others attending are participating. All the stylists who already did fittings are now changing out their clients’ original picks for the Globes,’ a source told Us Weekly.
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