Report: Oscars to ditch vaccine requirement for in-person attendees

The Oscars will reportedly not require proof of Covid-19 vaccination in order to attend the in-person ceremony in Hollywood on March 27th.

Instead, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will require guests to provide a negative PCR test or a negative rapid antigen test on the day of the event, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety reported on Wednesday. Attendees are encouraged to be vaccinated and those who are not will have to comply with stricter testing requirements in order to attend.

This year’s ceremony will return to the Dolby Theater after a smaller, scaled-down event at Union Station in Los Angeles last year. This ruling is in line with Los Angeles department of health.

Both The Screen Actors Guild awards and the Critics’ Choice awards have both mandated that those in attendance show proof of vaccination and negative tests.

A spokesperson for the SAG Awards, which will be held February 27th, referred THR (The Hollywood Reporter) to the COVID protocols listed on the organization’s website: “All ticketed attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination plus booster shot (if eligible), proof of negative lab-based COVID-19 PCR test within 48 hours of event, and negative antigen (rapid) test the day of the event.”

And Joey Berlin, COO of the Critics’ Choice Association, which will hold the Critics’ Choice Awards on March 13th, tells THR, “We will be 100 percent vaccinated and require a negative PCR test within 48 hours of the event. I can’t invite people to a show where they’re not going to feel safe.”

The Hollywood Reporter spoke to a “highly connected industry insider” who called the decision “shocking”, referring to it as a move to accommodate “anti-vaxxers” in the industry, who would not be able to attend if there were such a requirement.