Kristen Bell says award shows are more ‘important’ than ever

Kristen Bell, an American actress, sat down for an interview with People where she opened up about the role of award shows after the tragic wildfires in L.A.

Set to host the upcoming 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards, she admitted that her first instinct during the fires was to call it off. "It felt very superfluous to have an awards show. I felt, ‘We should cancel all of the awards this year and donate all of the money!’”

The devastating fires went on to destroy 50,293 acres as well as 18,000 structures. At least 29 people were killed and over 200,000 were forced to evacuate their homes.

Several celebrities like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Joshua Jackson, Anna Faris, Ricki Lake, Cary Elwes, Cameron Mathison, Spencer Pratt, and Heidi Montag also lost their homes because of it.

However, after she learned about the financial context of the events, she reconsidered. "I realized, ‘Wait a minute. If you cancel the awards shows, you are canceling, hundreds of hundreds if not thousands of jobs for people in Los Angeles who need them.' " Bell says. "Gig workers, musicians, hairstylists, makeup artists, drivers, caterers, tech workers — it’s actually imperative to the economy of rebuilding that we have these awards shows."

The actress is far from wrong, as the Los Angeles Economic Development Council told The Hollywood Reporter that the Oscars alone bring around $130 million to the economy.

Bell also realized the importance of entertainment, "Especially having it airing it on Netflix and making it seem global, it allows people to have a night of just fun, normal, goofy jokes and see all of the stars of television and film that they love,"

Reflecting on her hesitation to take on the role of hosting, The Good Place star said, "I was coming off of 8 months of not working — well, you can say not working, but I’ve been a stay-at-home mom, which is a whole load [of] work in and of itself and more emotional work than anything," she says. "But I hadn't been acting. And I thought, ‘Wow do I want to get back into this? Do I want to take this on?’ But it felt like it'd oddly be creatively fun and fulfilling. And so far, it has been."

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