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Screen Actors Guild Awards Cancel Live Nominations Announcement Due to Los Angeles Wildfires

A general view of the carpet at the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Feb. 24, 2024, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP)
A general view of the carpet at the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Feb. 24, 2024, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP)
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Screen Actors Guild Awards Cancel Live Nominations Announcement Due to Los Angeles Wildfires

A general view of the carpet at the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Feb. 24, 2024, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP)
A general view of the carpet at the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Feb. 24, 2024, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP)

The Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations have canceled an in-person announcement planned for Wednesday morning due to devastating wildfires and winds in the Los Angeles area.

The nominations for awards honoring the best performances in movies and television will be announced by press release instead of at a live event hosted by actors Joey King and Cooper Koch.

Homes and structures are burning in a pair of wind-swept fires in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles and Altadena, a neighborhood near Pasadena, California.

Kristen Bell will host the 31st annual awards ceremony, which will stream live on Netflix on Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern from the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles. Idris Elba hosted last year’s ceremony.

The SAG Awards are a reliable Oscar bellwether for the acting and best picture categories.

The fires have led to the cancellation of several entertainment events, including Wednesday's premiere of the Robbie Williams biopic “Better Man,” a premiere of Jennifer Lopez's “Unstoppable” movie and the premiere of Universal Pictures' upcoming horror film “Wolf Man.”

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Doctor to Plead Guilty to Supplying Ketamine to ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry 

Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 
Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 
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Doctor to Plead Guilty to Supplying Ketamine to ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry 

Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 
Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 

A California doctor charged in the overdose death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of illegal distribution of the drug ketamine, according to a court filing on Monday.

Salvador Plasencia, who operated an urgent care clinic in Malibu, faces up to 40 years in prison, according to a statement from prosecutors. He is expected to enter the guilty plea in the coming weeks.

Plasencia was one of five people charged in the death of Perry at age 54. An autopsy found the actor died from acute effects of ketamine and other factors that caused him to lose consciousness and drown in his hot tub in October 2023.

Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties. It is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and anxiety but also abused by recreational users.

In the plea agreement, Plasencia admitted to injecting Perry with ketamine at the actor's home and in a Santa Monica parking lot in the weeks before his death, in exchange for thousands of dollars, and that it was "not for legitimate medical purposes."

Plasencia obtained the ketamine from another doctor, Mark Chavez of San Diego. According to earlier court filings, Plasencia texted Chavez about Perry, saying: "I wonder how much this moron will pay."

Chavez and two other defendants already have pleaded guilty in the case. None has yet been sentenced.

A fifth defendant, Jasveen Sangha, whom authorities said was a drug dealer known to customers as the "ketamine queen," has been charged with supplying the dose that killed Perry. She has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial in August.

Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including during the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s television sitcom "Friends."