Inside the Grammys’ Decision to Go Ahead Amid L.A. Wildfires: ‘We Have to Do Everything We Can to Help’

variety.com:

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The 2025 Grammys were shaping up to be a lively celebration of a vibrant year in music: the year of Chappell, Charli and Sabrina; of Taylor, Beyonce and Billie; of “Brat,” “Tipsy” and “Not Like Us.” But on Wednesday, January 8, everything changed as wildfires raged across the Grammys’ home city of Los Angeles.

For the third time in five years — following the COVID-altered shows of 2021 and 2022 — the Grammys had to pivot and transform what is usually an extravagant, glamorous celebration into something more serious and, at times, somber. “I’ll admit I was looking forward to a straightforward show,” says Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. “But on that Wednesday morning, it all just flipped upside-down.” Although many people called for the Feb.

2 show to be postponed — and nearly every Grammy Week party was quickly canceled — for Mason and Ben Winston, the show’s executive producer, there was no question about moving forward.

Approximately 6,500 L.A.-area people work on major awards shows like the Grammys, which has an estimated impact on the local economy of around $200 million. “On the one hand, there’s the good we can do with our platform,” Mason says. “But if we were to cancel or postpone the show, how would that affect the thousands of people who work on it or around it?” Winston adds, “After COVID, post-COVID, two [Hollywood industry] strikes and everything else, try to tell those stagehands, costumers, makeup artists, drivers, caterers, PAs and all those working people who make a living from the Grammys that we’re not doing the show.” So, in what has become a familiar scenario, the Recording Academy, broadcast partner CBS and Winston’s team got to work.