At the 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards, all the presenters will be women. The decision is meant as a response to the recent onslaught of sexual harassment and assault accusations that have had an unsettling effect on the industry.
The SAG Award nominations, which were announced on Wednesday, were presented by Olivia Munn and Niecy Nash. The show will also have its first-ever host, Kristen Bell. "Culturally there’s always been a conversation about equality," Bell said in an interview with The New York Times. "Now there’s some mega-spotlights on this conversation and, dare I say, some pyrotechnics in the background." She continued, "I’m not the first female host. I’m the first host. The fact that a female was chosen to be the first one means my genitals become irrelevant."
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Last year at the awards show, many actors spoke out against the actions of the recently elected Donald Trump. It was politically charged and a representation of the current discourse in the United States. This year will be very much the same. "An awards show is not as serious as the conversation deserves to be," said Bell to the NYT, saying that it will be a celebration of women unlike any other awards show before it.
"How many times has a woman walked into a room of predominately men? We thought, maybe for one night, it’ll be more than 50/50 [onstage]," said SAG awards executive producer Kathy Connell to The Hollywood Reporter. "We don’t want to slight the men who have given great performances this year — knowing our membership, I’m sure our men will embrace the opportunity to honor women."
The ceremony's list of presenters has not yet been released; however, all 13 awards – as well as the two stunt awards which are traditionally not televised – will all be presented by women.
It's said that the winners at the SAG Awards are a good predictor of that year's Oscar winners. Let's hope that their decision to have all women presenters is an indicator of the future of Hollywood and the world in general.