Emmy awards cancelled after air strikes

LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts) - The Emmy television awards in the US have been cancelled due to the air strikes against Afghanistan. A spokeswoman for CBS television announced the cancellation of the awards, which were to be broadcast on Sunday night simultaneously from New York and Los Angeles.

The awards were originally scheduled for presentation in a three-hour nationally televised programme in mid-September.
But they were postponed because of national mourning following the attacks on New York and Washington.

It is the first time the awards have been cancelled in their 53-year history.

Muted affair

The awards had been scheduled to take place amid unprecedented security measures.

The organisers had sought to create a night of muted celebration, asking participants to cut back on red-carpet arrival fanfare and forgo showy gowns and tuxedoes in favour of business attire.

Speaking before the attacks, Jim Chabin, president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, said that getting the ceremony right in the current circumstances meant walking "a fine line".

The television industry had grappled in the weeks following the attack with the propriety of holding a celebration such as the Emmys.