Oscars Telecast Will Acknowledge the ‘People of Ukraine,’ Says Show Producer Will Packer
variety.comAdam B. Vary Senior Entertainment WriterThe Academy Award telecast will acknowledge “the people of Ukraine,” producer Will Packer told Variety on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday.Packer was answering a question about whether Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will appear on the show, something co-host Amy Schumer said she’d advocated to happen.
Two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn also vowed to “smelt” his statuettes if the Academy did not invite Zelenskyy to appear.“You have to make sure you strike a balance with a night like tonight,” Packer told Variety‘s Marc Malkin. “It is about fun, it is about revelry.
But we are so grateful, I think, as an industry and as a community — we certainly should be — to be able to even put on a night like this.
So we certainly are going to have an acknowledgement of the tumultuous times that we’re in right now and the people of Ukraine.” #Oscars producer Will Packer confirms that the ceremony will acknowledge “the people of Ukraine.” https://t.co/YcZNPJv3eU | Variety On the Carpet presented by @DIRECTV pic.twitter.com/2QShA5ihK3— Variety (@Variety) March 27, 2022Several presenters, nominees and previous winners walking the Oscars red carpet — including Jamie Lee Curtis, Diane Warren, Youn Yuh-jung and Paolo Sorrentino — were also wearing blue ribbons with the hashtag #WithRefugees on them, part of an effort by the UN Refugee Agency.
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