Hollywood Week: Academy Governors Awards, Viola Davis, Beyonce/Netflix, Jussie Smollett
- Details
- Category: Haute This Issue
- Published on Saturday, 23 November 2024 09:30
- Written by Janet Walker
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held the 15th annual Governors ceremony this week bestowing honorary Academy Awards on five individuals who exemplified extraordinary distinction in the arts and humanitarian achievements.
Academy Governors Awards
Hosted by Colman Domingo, the Honorary Awards were presented to music producer and composer Quincy Jones (accepted posthumously by Rashida Jones, Martina Jones, Quincy Jones III, and Kenya Kinski Jones) by Jamie Foxx and casting director Juliet Taylor by Nicole Kidman.
Image credit: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award was presented to filmmaker Richard Curtis by Hugh Grant. The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award was presented to producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli by Daniel Craig. The awards, which are all Oscar® statuettes, were voted on by the Academy's Board of Governors.
This event was produced by Oscar-nominated producer Jennifer Fox with a welcome by Academy President Janet Yang.
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Viola Davis To Receive Cecil B. DeMille Award
Viola Davis, who has distinguished herself on stage and screen, will receive the Cecil B. DeMille award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment, from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
'"Viola Davis is a luminary whose profound talent has continuously shifted the lens through which we see and understand film," said Helen Hoehne, president of the Golden Globes, in a statement. "Presenting her with the 2025 Cecil B. DeMille Award is not only an honor but a reflection of our admiration for her relentless dedication to her craft and her monumental impact on the industry. Viola's courage in portraying complex, powerful characters has broken barriers and paved new paths, making her an emblem of excellence and an ideal recipient of this prestigious award,"' reported The Hollywood Reporter.
Davis is also an EGOT winner, one of 27 individuals in the entertainment history who have received the highest honors in each of the four performing arts, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
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Netflix Announces Beyonce to Perform on Christmas Day Halftime Show
Netflix will stream live a double header of football madness on Christmas Day beginning with the reigning Superbowl Champions Kansas City Chiefs versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, followed by the Baltimore Ravens versus the Houston Texans, at Houston.
Beyonce, who is from Houston, will perform the halftime show on the streaming giant.
After the recent Grammy announcements, in which Beyonce received 11 nominations for her "Cowboy Carter" album, she has become the most nominated artist in music history with 99 Grammy nominations. Thirteen of her award nominations were for Destiny's Child, one of the most successful girl groups of all time, and three for "The Carters."
"Cowboy Carter" is up for album and country album of the year, and "Texas Hold 'Em" is nominated for record, song and country song of the year. She also received nominations in a wide swath of genres, including pop, country, Americana and melodic rap performance categories," APnews.com reported.
Rounding out the top five most nominated artists in the history of the Grammys are her husband, Jay-Z, with 88 nominations, Sir Paul McCartney with 81, Quincy Jones with 80, and Kayne West with 75 nominations.
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Jussie Smollett Conviction Overturned
Jussie Smollett, who once starred on the hit show "Empire," received an unexpected decision this week as Illinois State Supreme Court overturned the conviction on procedural issues.
"The justices didn't deny that Smollett, a Black man who identifies as gay, had staged a hate crime and publicly lied about attackers shouting homophobic and racist slurs while beating the actor. The justices wrote that they overturned the case because of a procedural issue — a due-process violation — as the charges had initially been dropped as part of an agreement between prosecutors and Smollett during the years of high-profile legal wrangling," The Washington Post reported.
The initial case, which received major media attention was investigated by Chicago PD. The case took a turn, when the facts and evidence didn't add up to the detail of events as told by Smollett. Eventually, two brothers who had worked on the television show Empire told police they were paid to help fabricate the hoax. Smollett then became the target of the investigation. Whatever the motivation was, the crime took on a life of its own, and as political slogans and racist terms were used, it became about divisive politics.
Smollett was eventually charged, then the charges were dropped, by a Black female prosecutor, who allowed herself through the handling of this case to become a scapegoat by the media and Chicago's legal community, as she was preparing for a mayoral race, which she lost. The next District Attorney initiated a second investigation, spending more than 15,000 manhours and five years on the case, which concluded that Smollett staged the crime and secured 150-day sentence.
Smollett's lawyers challenged the decision, and the Illinois State Supreme Court found that his right to due process, as the charges had been dropped, had been violated and overturned the conviction.
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Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and the International Federation of Journalists.
