Writers strike not expected to impact ceremony
The 50th Grammy Awards will not face the wrath of the Writers Guild of America’s Strike on Feb. 10.
The WGA crippled the Golden Globes in January by promising to make a picket line outside the awards ceremony. The picket line would have most likely kept celebrities from attending as members of the Screen Actors Guild. With no stars, the Golden Globes were reduced to a press conference in which the winners were simply announced without any formal awards or recipients present.
The WGA declared that they would let their writers work for the 50th anniversary show to avoid a similar problem. According to the Associated Press, the WGA’s West Coast President Patric M. Verrone said, “Professional musicians face many of the same issues [writers] do concerning fair compensation for the use of their work in new media.”
Now that the WGA has decided to create an interim in their strike, the show is expected to proceed as planned. This year’s Grammy Awards will feature many big names from the music world.
Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and the Foo Fighters featuring Led Zepplin’s John Paul Jones are some of the musicians set to take the stage at the anniversary show.
“I’m going to watch because I really like music,” said Elizabeth Brot, a sophomore pre-journalism major. “I am especially excited to see Amy Winehouse perform.”
Winehouse is nominated for six awards, including album of the year and best new artist.
While the Grammy Awards may escape the impacts of the strike, the fight is still not over.
According to the New York Times, “In an e-mailed bulletin on Sunday, the presidents of the guild told members they ‘do not yet have a contract,’ and stressed the need for continued picketing.”
Brot said she misses some of the shows that have been cancelled due to the strike.
“I think their strike is respectable, but a lot of my favorite shows are cancelled,” Brot said. “I’ll be happy when it’s over.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Emma Dessau at emma.dessau@colorado.edu.
