After this past year pulled the cover off of the pervasive problem of sexual assault in Hollywood, the Screen Actors Guild responded by having women present all of the awards at this year’s show. All thirteen awards, save the award for outstanding performance by a cast, which will have one male and one female presenter, will be presented by a unreleased line-up of women.
Kathy Connell, the executive producer of the SAG Awards, made the decision in response to the spotlight on women in the industry and how they’ve empowered themselves this year.
“Women stepped forward in such a huge way in this last year,” Connell told The New York Times. “I want to salute women who are coming forward to speak at a very difficult time about very difficult subjects at great risk to themselves.”
The @SAGawards set to make history by having only female presenters this year https://t.co/gay9S5Ug31 pic.twitter.com/vzC078ZBti
— ET Canada (@ETCanada) December 14, 2017
Also historically important, the SAG Awards will have a host for the first time ever. Kristen Bell will be leading the show. “I’m not the first female host,” she told The New York Times. “I’m the first host. The fact that a female was chosen to be the first one means my genitals become irrelevant.”
Meet your host of the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday Jan 21, 2018. @SAGawards pic.twitter.com/IToeFiPhdf
— Kristen Bell (@IMKristenBell) December 4, 2017
Award shows have become more politically charged in the Trump-era, as individual actors like Meryl Streep and Julia Louis-Dreyfus have used them to speak out, but it’s nice to see an entire organization taking it upon themselves to celebrate women during this pivotal moment.
“An awards show is not as serious as the conversation deserves to be,” Bell told NYT. “And this night will celebrate women more than any other SAG Awards has, and possibly more than any other awards show has.”