The American Film Institute says it is postponing its 48th annual AFI Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute honoring Julie Andrews in an apparent response to the new coronavirus outbreak.
The organization originally planned to give Andrews its Life Achievement Award on April 25 in Los Angeles. It will be rescheduled for early summer.
"AFI's decision to postpone the event is simply in response to the rapidly evolving nature of current events and our promise to ensure the well-being of the artists and audience that gather each year to celebrate America's art form," AFI CEO and President Bob Gazzale said in a statement Saturday. "This move will allow our full attention to focus on the many gifts that Julie Andrews has given the world."
AFI did not directly cite the virus outbreak that officials in numerous countries, including the United States, are trying to contain. The postponement is one of several changes that have been made in recent days to entertainment industry events, including Friday's decision to cancel the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, and a move earlier this week to delay the release of the new James Bond Film "No Time to Die" to later this year.
Andrews' acting career has spanned several decades, winning an Academy Award in 1965 for her starring role in "Mary Poppins." She also starred in "The Sound of Music" and "The Princess Diaries."
The 84-year-old won two Grammy Awards and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
Andrews will be the 48th recipient of the prestigious honor from the AFI, joining Mel Brooks, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, George Clooney and Denzel Washington.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More