After Stephen King called for the cancellation of the 97th Academy Awards, which will be held on March 2, will celebrate the films of 2024, with frontrunners including Anora, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez, A Complete Unknown, The Substance, and Wicked.

On King's Threads , he doubled down on his recent comments. While he acknowledges the responses that defend the Oscars as a celebration of life, and he says that this makes a “degree of sense,” but he can’t help but describe the Academy’s decision to move on with the ceremony while Los Angeles withers in smoke and flame as “Nero fiddling while Rome burns.” See his post below:

What This Means For The Oscars

The Ceremony Is Still Moving Forward

King makes two compelling comparisons in his post. The first is likening the Academy to Nero, the fifth emperor of Rome and one of the empire’s most notorious, cruel, and eccentric rulers. He also compares L.A. to Rome itself, which was once the cradle of Western civilization. Ultimately, his statement alludes to the Great Fire of Rome, a fire that raged for six days before being contained, only for it to be reignited and rage on for another three days. The fire had a significant impact on Rome, burning 10 out of its 14 istrative districts, which was 70% overall.

It is a myth that Nero treated the fire with callous indifference, playing his fiddle amid the destruction, but it is a memorable metaphor that speaks to the influence of the Academy and Los Angeles, and a comparison that fully realizes the nightmarish situation in which the L.A. County commuinity has found itself. However, it seems like the Academy is set on going on with the show, with their primary response to the Los Angeles fires being the delay this year’s nominations, which will now be announced on January 23 as opposed to January 17, which was the original plan.

There Are Multiple Counterarguments To King's Comments

The Oscars Help More Than They Hurt

As pointed out by several replies to King’s post, there are multiple reasons not to cancel the 97th Academy Awards ceremony. One of the most important is the fact the Oscars provide employment to countless LA citizens, not just celebrities. The massive annual event has a huge ripple effect on the local economy in a number of sectors. This benefits many local workers, especially those in the hospitality and food service industries, as many people travel to Los Angeles for the Oscars and need to be put up in hotels and fed.

That is just the tip of the iceberg...

Other non-celebrity workers who benefit from the Oscars include event staff such as lighting and sound technicians, servers, drivers, make-up artists, hairstylists, and more. That is just the tip of the iceberg, as the economic impact spreads far beyond just event staffers and hotel and restaurant workers. Thus, an outright cancellation of the Oscars would serve as a catalyst for an economic fiasco just at the time when the city needs help the most.

The Oscars also help the general entertainment industry in addition to the local Los Angeles community. This includes the author himself. While he has penned bestsellers for many years, some of his iconic status comes from the number of Stephen King movies that have performed well at the Oscars, with titles including The Green Mile, Carrie, Stand by Me, and The Shawshank Redemption earning a cumulative 15 nominations and one win (for Kathy Bates in Misery). Up-and-coming artists who earn Oscar nominations in 2025 could have their careers boosted in the same way as King's.

The impact of the fires includes severe damage to Palisades Charter High School, where scenes from 1976's Carrie were shot.

The 2025 event is also well-timed, as it will take place during a period when it is likely that the fires will have long since been contained. With the fires out of the news cycle, the wider world may have already moved on from making donations to fire-related causes as of early March, even though rebuilding efforts in the impacted areas, particularly those in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, will likely take years and require financial throughout that entire time.

Our Take On King’s New Statements

King Is Standing By His Earlier Take

While King's comments come from a place of comion for those dealing with the devastation of the wildfires, cancelling the Oscars is likely not the right move. Instead, the proposition of turning the Oscars into a platform to raise funds for the efforts to rebuild after the fires is more sensible. This solution presents a win-win situation where those in the film industry get to put on their “fancy clothes” while providing assistance to those in need and raising awareness about the situation in Los Angeles.

Source: Stephen King/Threads