Actress Cate Blanchett explained why we should stop televising awards shows, reminiscing about when stars could just enjoy the party without worrying about their every move being recorded.
Speaking on the “Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang” podcast, the 55-year-old actress said that the Academy Awards, among other Hollywood shows, should “go back to the day when it wasn’t televised,” The Hollywood Reporter noted.
The actress said with the invention of smartphones, there are just “so few spaces that you can go now, where you are private.”
“That’s what I loved about the late 80s [was] going to all of the dance parties in Sydney for Mardi Gras. People were just there,” Blanchett said. “They were so present, you know, they were just together, collectively, having a great time.”
“It was non-aggressive. No one was being recorded. No one cared what anyone did,” she added.
Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett says award shows shouldn’t be televised to protect celebrities’ privacy https://t.co/o564hXGwso
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The podcast hosts and Blanchett then slammed the TikTok trend of having lip-reading influencers post videos on the platform claiming to reveal what stars were saying to each other at these events.
“I mean, I say, I know it’s blasphemy, go back to the day when it wasn’t televised,” the “Oceans Eight” star said. “Bring that back and just have a great party where people can just let go.”
“I mean, the industry is so scattered and at such a point … which I think potentially could be exciting or could really be depressing, but it’s at a pivot point, and so we need to gather together and celebrate what it is that we do, without it having to have any public-facing,” she added.
“I mean, the fashion is great, and all of that stuff,” Blanchett continued. “We’ll find out in the end who won or who didn’t win. But it would be so nice that that happened behind closed doors. [It would be] absolutely a very different evening.”
Blanchett is a two-time Oscar winner, after taking home Best Supporting Actress for her performance in “The Aviator” in 2005 and Best Actress in 2014’s “Blue Jasmine,” the outlet noted.
The first Academy Awards to be televised was in 1953. It was the 25th ceremony. Earlier this month, the academy celebrated its 97th Oscars show hosted by former late-night host Conan O’Brien.
As host of the 2025 Oscars, O’Brien mainly steered away from politics and received praise for his job hosting the awards show where the telecast viewership jumped to its highest ratings in five years, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
