HOLLYWOOD - The 53rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards show scheduled for Sunday at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and the Latin Grammy Awards slated to take place tonight at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles have been postponed indefinitely due to the apparent terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, organizers said on Tuesday. Early Tuesday morning, two airplanes crashed into and ultimately collapsed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Another crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Somerset County, PA, southeast of Pittsburgh. The nation, paralyzed with shock and grief, awaits word on the number of people injured or dead as a result of these tragedies.
Meanwhile, Hollywood is on hold.
According to Reuters, the Emmy Awards ceremony has been put off "out of respect for the victims, their families and all fellow citizens," said Jim Chabin, president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Activities scheduled during the week leading up to the event have also been canceled.
Michael Greene, head of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, also announced today the cancellation of the Latin Grammy Awards as buildings around the Los Angeles area were being closed or evacuated as a precaution, Reuters reported.
A spokesman for the academy, Bernard Alonso, said Greene decided to call off the awards show "in light of the events that have been transpiring," referring to the flights that crashed early Tuesday morning.
Organizers of the Latin Grammy Awards had already planned to do away with the standard red carpet arrivals of the stars, and many people involved in the show, including nominees, were relieved upon hearing that the broadcast had been canceled.
"We can't think about music right now. The only feeling we can have now is about the families involved by this tragedy and our security," Andres Recio, personal manager for Colombian rocker nominee, Juanes, told Reuters.
The Latin Grammys have been surrounded by political controversy for weeks, having changed their location from Miami to Los Angeles, amidst fears that anti-Castro protestors might create disturbances during the event.
Artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Thalia, guitarist Carlos Santana, and Latin jazz musician Arturo Sandoval, were expected to attend the ceremony.
According to a Latin recording executive, the Grammys will most likely be rescheduled at a later date. "Who wants to be in a public place with thousands of people under these circumstances?'' he said.
A Madonna concert, scheduled for tonight at Los Angeles' Staples Center, was also canceled.
Other sources are reporting that business in Hollywood, as in most parts of America, has ground to a halt, with production stopped on many movie sets and employees around the metropolitan Los Angeles area heading home early today to spend time with family members.