Awards

14 Mar 2023

Avril Lavigne Wins Fan Choice Award at 2023 Juno Awards; Deftly Handles Topless Stage-Crasher

Avril Lavigne won the fan-voted Fan Choice Award for the fourth time at the 2023 Juno Awards on Monday (March 13). And she reminded fans why they love her with her deft handling of a topless stage-crasher.

When Lavigne was introducing a performance by AP Dhillon, the first Punjabi artist to perform at the Junos, a topless woman appeared on the stage behind her. According to a CBC News report, a message written on her back appeared to read “SAVE THE GREEN BELT” — an apparent reference to a controversial development plan by the Ontario government.

Lavigne turned around and told her to “get the f— off,” and the protester left the stage.

The moment recalled the most famous stage-crashing incident at a music awards show, when a stage crasher with the words Soy Bomb scrawled on his chest was able to get on stage at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York in 1998. He gyrated while Bob Dylan was performing “Love Sick.” Dylan endured the strange moment stoically and just kept on playing.

Lavigne, by contrast, put the woman in her place. When she later won the Fan Choice Award, Lavigne joked about her take-charge attitude. “Now nobody try anything this time. I’ll f— a b—- up.”

Marvel star Simon Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), who hosted the show for the second year, praised Lavigne for “handling that topless lady like a champion.”

The 52nd Annual Juno Awards were held at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. Just five competitive awards were presented on the two-hour show. More than 40 awards had been presented at the Juno Opening Night Awards on Saturday (March 11), which allowed the Monday telecast to focus on performances by Tenille Townes, Alexisonfire, Aysanabee, Jessie Reyez, Tate McRae, AP Dhillon, Banx & Ranx, Preston Pablo and Rêve, as well as a 50th anniversary to hip-hop which focused on Canadian hip-hop talent.

The Weeknd won five awards over the course of the two nights. These five awards bring The Weeknd’s total of Juno Awards to 22, which puts him in second place on the all-time Juno leaderboard. Anne Murray continues to lead all artists with 25 Junos.

Abel Tesfaye won four of those awards at the Juno Opening Night Awards, which was livestreamed from the Edmonton Convention Centre. On the live telecast, he won one more award — album of the year for FM Dawn. It was his third win in the category, following Beauty Behind the Madness and After Hours. But he wasn’t on hand to accept his honor, which led to ringing boos from the audience.

The Weeknd has famously been on the outs with the Grammys since the annual ceremony gave him a grand total of zero nominations in the year of “Blinding Lights,” one of the biggest and best singles of recent years. But the Junos have showered him with awards. It’s easy to see why the audience felt he was disrespecting them by not showing up.

The Weeknd has yet to win the Fan Choice Award. Lavigne, by contrast, is one of only three artists to win it four or more times. Justin Bieber leads with five wins in the category. Shawn Mendes has also won it four times. (Either Lavigne or Mendes has won the award in each of the last seven years.)

Toronto singer Jessie Reyez won the first award of the night, contemporary R&B recording of the year for her 2022 album Yessie. The Weeknd had won the award in each of the last two years.

Nickelback was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Actor Ryan Reynolds called the band “the pride of Alberta” during a pre-taped segment, which was followed by an onstage introduction from Edmonton Oilers hockey player Connor McDavid.

The band closed the show with a performance with included such global hits as “Rockstar” and “How You Remind Me.”

Rappers Haviah Mighty and Kardinal Offishall introduced a 50th anniversary tribute to hip-hop in Canada.

“One of my favourite MCs went on to be the world’s favorite,” said Kardinal Offishall, referring to Drake. “The world would not look the same if it wasn’t for the unprecedented talent, influence and vision of [a man] like Drake. He continued to open doors and help focus the world’s attention on our thriving hip hop scene.”

Kardinal Offishall is best known in the U.S. for his 2008 single “Dangerous” (featuring Akon), a top five single on the Billboard Hot 100.

Maestro Fresh-Wes, who won the first Juno for rap album of the year (1991’s Symphony in Effect), announced this year’s winner, TOBi’s Shall I Continue?

Here are the nominees in the categories that were presented on the live telecast, with winners checked.

Here’s our report on the winners from Saturday’s Opening Night Juno Awards.

TikTok Juno Fan Choice

WINNER: Avril Lavigne, Warner

Lauren Spencer-Smith, Island/Republic*Universal

MacKenzie Porter, Big Loud*Independent

Preston Pablo, 31 East*Universal

Rêve, 31 East*Universal

Shawn Mendes, Island*Universal

Tate McRae, RCA*Sony

The Reklaws, Starseed*Independent

The Weeknd, XO*Universal

Tyler Shaw, Sony

Album of the year

Who Hurt You?, Ali Gatie, Warner

Love Sux, Avril Lavigne, Warner

Demons Protected by Angels, NAV, XO*Universal

i used to think i could fly, Tate McRae, RCA*Sony

WINNER: Dawn FM, The Weeknd, XO*Universal

Breakthrough artist of the year

Dax, Columbia*Sony

Devon Cole, Arista*Sony

WINNER: Preston Pablo, 31 East*Universal

RealestK, Columbia*Sony

Rêve, 31 East*Universal

Rap album/EP of the year

GONZO, Boslen, Capitol*Universal

Retrospected (Acoustic), Classified, Halflife*Universal

The Fleur Print Vol. 2, Jazz Cartier, Petal Garden*Believe

Demons Protected by Angels, NAV, XO*Universal

WINNER: Shall I Continue?, TOBi, RCA

Contemporary R&B recording of the year

“When Flowers Bloom,” Adria Kain, ArtHaus*Warner

“If I Get Caught,” dvsn, OVO

“No Longer in the Suburbs,” Dylan Sinclair, Five Stone*The Orchard

WINNER: “Yessie,” Jessie Reyez, Island*Universal

“WTF,” Savannah Ré, Universal

Canadian Music Hall of Fame Inductee Award

Nickelback

MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award

Jewel Casselman, Lakewood School, Winnipeg

13 Mar 2023

Audience for 95th Oscars Rebounds Slightly to 18.7 Million

Whether it was the lingering drama of The Slap or the prominence of blockbusters in the best picture race, a bigger audience was lured back to the Oscars this year.

The 95th Academy Awards, which aired Sunday night on ABC, was viewed by an estimated 18.7 million, according to preliminary Fast National Live+Same Day numbers released Monday by ABC. That’s up 12% from last year’s show, but still low compared to most years.

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The evening’s main counterprogramming, the season finale of “The Last of Us” pulled in 8.2 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max. The show began at 9 p.m. EST, an hour after the Oscars started.

A frequent criticism of the Oscars is that the show celebrates films that don’t have wide appeal. This year was markedly different, however, with two billion-dollar blockbuster sequels in the mix: “Top: Gun Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” were both nominated for best picture. Angela Bassett was nominated for a Marvel movie, a first. Even the winning film, A24’s “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” made over $100 million at the global box office and played in theaters for months.

For many years, the Oscars were often the second most-watched television program of the year behind the Super Bowl. Until 2018, the Oscar telecast had never slipped below 30 million viewers, according to Nielsen records. The high-water mark was the 55 million people who watched “Titanic” clean up in 1998.

From the 43.7 million who watched in 2014, viewership declined steadily to 26.5 million in 2018, then went back up to 29.6 million in 2019, and 23.6 million in 2020. The bottom fell out with the pandemic-diminished show in 2021, seen by 9.85 million. It rebounded last year to 16.6 million, which was the second lowest-rated show ever.

Jimmy Kimmel, who presided over the ceremony in 2017 and 2018, returned to host the show, parachuting on to the Dolby Theatre stage. The show also featured performances from pop stars like Rihanna and Lady Gaga.

Broadcast television viewership has gone down across the board in the streaming era, and awards shows have illustrated that. The show boasted 27.4 million total social interactions across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and was the No. 1 worldwide trending topic on Twitter for its duration.

By Monday afternoon, Ke Huy Quan’s acceptance speech had over 1.3 million views on YouTube, and Brendan Fraser’s was up to 2.6 million.

The ABC broadcast also had 1.8 million views of the American Sign Language live stream.

“What we wanted to do was go out and execute a show that people would really like and a show people would talk about,” Oscars producer Glenn Weiss told The Hollywood Reporter in the hours after the show. “We think we did accomplish that. I sure hope that (Monday) delivers good news in the ratings front, but either way, I think it was a successful evening.”

13 Mar 2023

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Went 0-9 at the Oscars: What Other Films Have Done That?

The Banshees of Inisherin was one of just three films to receive nine or more Oscar nominations this year, along with Everything Everywhere All at Once and All Quiet on the Western Front. But while EEAAO and All Quiet each piled up multiple Oscar wins on Sunday (March 12), Banshees was shut out.

The film, which was written, directed and co-produced by Martin McDonagh, is one of only nine films in Oscar history to receive nine or more nominations and wind up with no wins at all. Six films did even worse than Banshees — four went 0-10, while two went 0-11.

Martin Scorsese directed two of the films on this list. Scorsese is universally regarded as one of the greatest directors in film history, so experiencing a shutout (or even two) does not consign someone to a hall of shame.

It’s important to keep in mind that all of these films did very well with Oscar voters. Amassing nine or more nominations is a tremendous achievement. The Oscars have just 23 categories, about one-quarter as many as the Grammys (which has 91).

So Banshees did well. It’s just that other films this year did better. Banshees lost in six categories to the unstoppable force that was EEAAO.

It’s probably not much fun for the cast and crew of a film to sit in a theater and watch their film get shut out. But there are worse fates, like not being nominated at all, or getting just a few token nods. Nothing should take away from the high the filmmakers felt when the nominations were announced – even an Oscar Night that fell short of their hopes.

Here are all the films that received nine or more nominations yet wound up with no hardware, along with the categories in which they scored their many nods.

13 Mar 2023

Oscars Producers Dish on How Lady Gaga’s Last-Minute Performance Happened

The producers behind the 2023 Academy Awards revealed in a new interview Monday (March 13) just how Lady Gaga‘s performance came together at the eleventh hour.

As reported ahead of the awards show, the Oscar-winning pop star was originally not slated to perform due to her busy schedule filming the upcoming Joker sequel Folie à Deux opposite Joaquin Phoenix. However, that changed the morning of the show, when she was announced as a last-minute performer in a surprise about-face.

“Honestly, and this is not to pat ourselves on the back, because we’re very bad at that, but we’ve built up trust in the relationship with Gaga over the years,” Oscars executive producer Ricky Kirshner told The Hollywood Reporter. “I did the Super Bowl with her and Glenn has done many awards shows with her, including the ‘Shallow’ performance on the Oscars.

“She really wanted to do something,” he continued. “She honestly was shooting her movie — there was no trickery involved. And Thursday, at four-something, we got a text that she wanted to try something, didn’t have time to put together a big performance, but wanted it to be raw and people to see the real Gaga, and, with a voice like that, you don’t need much more than that.”

Mother Monster’s resulting performance of her best original song nominee “Hold My Hand” was far from a grandiose spectacle, with the singer opting instead to wear a simple black T-shirt and ripped jeans to run through a stripped-down rendering of the Top Gun: Maverick track. “It’s deeply personal for me, and I think that we all need each other. We need a lot of love to walk through this life,” she told the audience before launching into the song.

Revisit Gaga’s latest Oscars performance below.

13 Mar 2023

Megan Thee Stallion Teases ‘New Album’ at Oscars Afterparty

Is a new Meghan Thee Stallion album on the way? That’s what the rapper confirmed while attending the Vanity Fair Oscar party on Sunday night (March 12).

When asked by Entertainment Tonight about the prospect of new music, the Queen of the Hotties cheekily replied, “Oh I am, new album, f–k y’all hoes, bye!” before sauntering off with a laugh. Megan didn’t offer any more details, but a new full-length would serve as a follow-up to her 2022 sophomore effort Traumazine, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and contained hit singles “Sweetest Pie” with Dua Lipa, “Plan B,” “Pressurelicious” featuring Future, “Her” and the Key Glock-assisted “Ungrateful.”

Ahead of teasing her new project, Megan got hilariously real about getting her hands on tickets to Beyonce’s highly anticipated upcoming Renaissance World Tour, admitting she wasn’t above calling Queen Bey herself for help. “They gon’ be hatin’ on me, but I got ’em!” she said. “Oh baby, you know I called up them directly: ‘Beyoncé, lemme get a ticket!’”

She also shared that after hitting up the Vanity Fair bash — which musicians such as Cardi B, Olivia Rodrigo, Shawn Mendes and more attended — she’d be heading to another afterparty thrown by her “Savage (Remix)” collaborator. (“You know Beyoncé is my auntie!” she gushed.)

Watch Megan spill the tea on her new album and her “direct line” to Beyoncé below.

13 Mar 2023

Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Offset & More: All the Musicians at the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party

After the Oscars, A-list music stars came out in droves for the famous Vanity Fair Oscar party on Sunday night (March 12).

Couples like Offset and Cardi B, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner and Rita Ora and Taika Waititi all turned heads while hand-in-hand on the Vanity Fair carpet, while Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo were all smiles making one of their first public appearances as a couple following the Maroon 5 rocker’s recent texting scandal at the tail end of 2022.

The annual fête is also another chance for famous faces to turn the fashion up to 100 in the wake of the Oscars champagne carpet, and this year was no exception. Olivia Rodrigo served all the Y2K fantasy in a chic leopard-print gown by Valentino and Sabrina Carpenter stunned in a sheer illusion gown by Paco Rabanne with strategically placed appliqués adding to the high-fashion moment. Billie Eilish, on the other hand, opted for voluminous glamour in an all-black goth-inspired ensemble as she walked the carpet with boyfriend Jesse Rutherford of The Neighborhood.

In a night dominated by neutrals, Saweetie bucked the trend by donning a bright green, high-low ball gown with a dramatic capelet covering her shoulders. Chloe x Halle also reunited for the party after the latter premiered a new look at her upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid during the Oscars telecast with co-star Melissa McCarthy.

The menswear at the Vanity Fair bash didn’t disappoint either, whether it was Ricky Martin serving dashing old Hollywood glamour with a twist thanks to his tuxedo’s oversized lapels or a newly blond-ish Troye Sivan arriving in a Matrix-esque leather bodysuit and matching belt.

Click through all the looks from the Vanity Fair Oscar party below.

13 Mar 2023

Elton John Raises Over $9 Million For the Fight Against AIDS With Oscars Viewing Party

While many of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities were at Sunday night’s Academy Awards at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater (March 12), Elton John was busy putting his star status to good use across town.

The annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards viewing party took place on Sunday at West Hollywood Park in Los Angeles. Hosted by John and his husband David Furnish, with special guests Eric McCormack and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, the event reportedly raised over $9 million for the “Rocket Man” singer’s charity organization.

The event was well-attended by plenty of A-list artists, including stars like Maren Morris, Wiz Khalifa, Dove Cameron, Hilary Duff, Kesha, Saweetie, Tyga, Sharon Osbourne, Maggie Rogers and Smokey Robinson. Rina Sawayama served as the event’s headline performer, where she took to the stage and performed a number of tracks, including “This Hell” and “Catch Me In The Air” off her latest album Hold the Girl.

“I’m delighted to have reunited with all of my friends tonight after such a long time apart and better yet, to have raised over $9 million for the fight against AIDS,” John said of the event in a statement. “We mustn’t forget that HIV is still causing needless suffering around the world and we must protect those most vulnerable to this disease with testing and compassionate care. We can see an end to AIDS in our lifetimes, but first we must break down stigma and discrimination and provide equal access to healthcare to finally end the epidemic for everyone, everywhere.”

The Elton John AIDS Foundation was founded in 1992 with the stated goal of bringing an end to the AIDS epidemic. The annual Oscars viewing party, which began the same year as the organization’s inception, regularly raises millions of dollars for the foundation — in 2022, the event raised $8.6 million for AIDS research.

13 Mar 2023

Watch Halle Bailey Fangirl Over Meeting Jamie Lee Curtis on the 2023 Oscars Red Carpet

Halle Bailey, you are all of us. Freaking out just like anyone would upon meeting a super famous actress, the 22-year-old Little Mermaid star reacted excitedly when she crossed paths with Jamie Lee Curtis Sunday night (March 12) on the Oscars red carpet.

The sweet moment was captured in the middle of Bailey’s red carpet interview with Variety, during which a reporter advocated for the singer-actress by waving Curtis over and saying, “Jamie, someone wants to meet you.”

Meanwhile, as Curtis made her way over, Bailey nervously whispered, “Oh my god.”

“I know who you are,” the Halloween actress graciously told Bailey, who’d begun introducing herself.

“I’m such a big fan,” the Chloe x Halle musician told Curtis. “You look beautiful, you look so pretty!”

After Curtis posed for a photo with Bailey, squeezed her admirer’s hand before walking away, Bailey gushed, “She’s so nice!”

“Oh my gosh, so many!” she added when asked to name her favorite of Curtis’ films. “Freaky Friday is the one that comes up for me.”

Both Bailey and Curtis had blockbuster evenings at Sunday night’s awards show. Curtis took home her first ever Oscar, earning best supporting actress for her role in this year’s best picture winner, Everything Everywhere All At Once. And Bailey — who looked stunning in an aptly aqua-colored gown fit for a princess — joined costar Melissa McCarthy in debuting the first official trailer for their live-action The Little Mermaid remake during the Oscars telecast.

Watch the adorable moment Halle Bailey met Jamie Lee Curtis at the Oscars below:

13 Mar 2023

From Rihanna to Lady Gaga, Here Are All the 2023 Oscars Performances

The 2023 Academy Awards took over Hollywood on Sunday night (March 12) with star-studded musical offerings by Rihanna, Lady Gaga and more for the best original song performances by the nominees.

The Super Bowl Halftime Show performer hit the stage in a custom Maison Margiela Artisanal outfit designed especially for her by John Galliano for the live debut of the Oscar-nominated “Lift Me Up,” one of her two offerings on the soundtrack to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Meanwhile, Mother Monster took the opposite route by stripping down to a simple black tee, ripped jeans and a makeup-free face for her last-minute performance of “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick. “It’s deeply personal for me, and I think that we all need each other,” she said prior to launching into the song as the camera zoomed in for the closest of close-ups on her face. “We need a lot of love to walk through this life. And we all need a hero sometimes, there’s heroes all around us in unassuming places. But you might find that you can be your own hero, even if you feel broken inside.”

Elsewhere during the ceremony, 14-time nominee Diane Warren accompanied Sofia Carson through “Applause” from the anthology film Tell It Like a Woman, and eventual best original song winner “Naatu Naatu” from RRR became the biggest song-and-dance spectacle of the evening led by Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava.

Plus David Byrne teamed up with best supporting actress nominee Stephanie Hsu and Son Lux for a trippy, cerebral take on “This Is a Life” from fan favorite Everything Everywhere All at Once — giant hot dog fingers included. 

Besides the performances of the best original song nominees, Lenny Kravitz soundtracked this year’s In Memoriam segment with his 2004 single “Calling All Angels.”

Watch each of the performances at the 2023 Oscars below.

13 Mar 2023

Here’s What Nick Cannon Thinks About Jimmy Kimmel’s Oscars Monologue Joke About His Kids

In between jokes about the infamous Will Smith Oscars 2022 slap, returning host Jimmy Kimmel squeezed in a jab at Nick Cannon‘s large number of children during his opening monologue at this year’s Academy Awards. And shortly after the ceremony wrapped, the Masked Singer host himself reacted to the callout, which he though was all in good fun.

“I heard about that,” Cannon told TMZ as he was leaving a restaurant Sunday night (March 12). “It’s hilarious. I created Wild N’ Out — I can hear jokes all day long.”

The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host effortlessly looped in a joke at Cannon’s headling-making fertility rate — the Drumline star is a father to 12 children, eight of which were born within a two-year span — by mentioning that one of the night’s nominated films, Avatar: The Way of Water, cost Disney two billion dollars to make. “Just to break even, all of Nick Cannon’s kids had to see Avatar four times,” Kimmel quipped.

There’s no hard feelings between the two men, though. “Kimmel’s my man,” Cannon added.

The former America’s Got Talent host first became a dad when he welcomed twins with his megastar ex-wife Mariah Carey in 2011. In the years following the couple’s 2014 split, he had 10 more babies with five other women: Brittany Bell, Abby De La Rosa, Bre Tiesi, LaNisha Cole and Alyssa Scott.

Many have wondered if and when Cannon will put an end to his oats-sowing, including the female TMZ reporter who closed their Sunday night chat by asking if he planned on putting a cap on his child count — not that she got a real answer to the question. “I don’t know. Whatchu doing later?” he joked, laughing slyly as he closed his car door.