Daytime Emmys Postponed Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

The 47th Annual Daytime Emmys, which were slated to be held in June, have been postponed. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Chairman Terry O’Reilly announced the news in a statement on Thursday, according to Variety.

“Given our concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided that we will not be staging the 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Pasadena this coming June,” the statement read. “As there are so many unknowns right now with the flow of information changing on a daily, almost hourly, basis, it would simply be irresponsible to move forward with our annual celebration of excellence in daytime television at this time.”

Additionally, NATAS president and CEP Adam Sharp told the outlet that “it did not seem responsible to commit to a three-night, 1,000-person-per-night event in June,” given ongoing concerns about coronavirus. “These were extremely difficult decisions to make, but at the end of the day the health and safety of our event attendees and staff must remain our paramount concern.”

While no date has been announced yet, Daytime Emmy Awards executive director Brent Stanton said that judging for the award winners will continue in the meantime.

“We look forward to announcing our incredibly talented nominees later this spring,” he said. “We are working on some interesting alternative ideas for how to best recognize the honorees later this year and will share more details in the weeks ahead.”

This marks the latest major event to be canceled or rescheduled out of concerns over coronavirus and the third for the NATAS. The organization had previously pulled the plug on both The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards in Las Vegas and the Sports Emmy Awards, which were to be held in New York City.

On Thursday, it was also reported that the Friends reunion, which was set to coincide with the launch of HBO Max, will have its production delayed in an effort to help slow the spread of coronavirus. It joins a number of TV shows that have temporarily halted production under the circumstances. Late-night shows have gone on without audiences in some cases, while several daytime talk shows have stopped filming. Or, in the case of The View, got a new “big a– table” to help encourage some on-set social distancing.

Networks and studios have also pulled the plug on dozens of productions, which will inevitably cause a ripple effect when it comes to their respective premiere dates.