How the Los Angeles Wildfires Will Transform the 2025 Grammys 

An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire on January 27, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, California. (Getty Images via AFP)
An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire on January 27, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, California. (Getty Images via AFP)
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How the Los Angeles Wildfires Will Transform the 2025 Grammys 

An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire on January 27, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, California. (Getty Images via AFP)
An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire on January 27, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, California. (Getty Images via AFP)

The Grammy Awards will look a little bit different this week.

Each year, the Recording Academy hosts a multitude of events to welcome the music industry during Grammy week and record labels do the same. However, many institutions have canceled their plans — Universal Music Group, Sony, Spotify, BMG and Warner Music Group among them — and instead are allocating resources to help those affected by the devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires.

The Grammys will still take place on Sunday at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles but now will focus its attention on helping wildfire victims.

How will Grammy week differ in 2025?

Within days of fires ravaging the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods, the Recording Academy and its affiliated MusiCares charity launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort with a $1 million dollar donation. According to a letter sent to members on Jan. 13, thanks to additional contributions, they’ve already distributed $2 million in emergency aid.

Once the fund was set up, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. said they began focusing on reformatting what Grammy week would look like — many conversations conducted "on the road, mobile-y, virtually" as staffers had evacuated their homes.

"That process has really consisted of reaching out to just listen and learn from a lot of people — state officials, local officials, the governor’s office, the mayor’s office, the fire department. We talked to hotel managers, just really trying to get a grasp on what was happening currently. What did they project was going to happen in the next week to 10 days? Would it be safe to have a show?"

Ultimately, the Recording Academy decided to condense its pre-Grammy week plans to just four events, each featuring a fundraising element.

On Friday, MusiCares, an organization that helps music professionals who need financial, personal or medical assistance, will hold its annual Persons of the Year benefit galacelebrating the Grateful Dead.

On Saturday, the Special Merit Awards Ceremony and Grammy nominees' reception will still take place, followed by Clive Davis' pre-Grammy fundraising event.

Then the Grammys take the stage on Sunday.

Events like the annual pre-Grammy Black Music Collective event, Grammy advocacy brunch, and others scheduled to take place at the immersive pop-up Grammy house have been canceled.

"We thought consolidating the events would allow us to have more impact," Mason explains. "And we just don’t feel it was the right time to have social gatherings or places to party or schmooze and just hang out. We wanted to have our events be places that could be purposeful and impactful. Some of the party settings, we decided to fold down into our fundraising efforts."

How has the Grammy award show been reformatted?

"Obviously, we can’t have a normal show in the midst of people’s belongings being burned or loss of life or other things like that. At the same time, canceling would not have helped," Mason says.

"We needed to raise money. We needed to show unity and come together around music. We need to support the city of L.A. (Over) 6,500 people work on our shows and ancillary gatherings. So, once we decided to move forward, it was really a conversation with (Grammy producers) Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins and myself. And we started to think about, ‘How do we make the show have the greatest impact?’"

They decided the path forward was to still give out awards and host performances to give viewers and attendees a bespoke concert experience. But most importantly, the show could raise awareness, drive donations and resources to funds that benefit people in need.

And the conversations are ongoing. "We have some great things in the show that will definitely help to raise funds," he assures. "It will honor some of the heroes that have been protecting our lives and our homes. It will hopefully shine a light on some people that need more help and more services."

Don't expect a traditional telethon, but he says the show will feature announcements and activations in the arena.

"Hopefully we’ll be talking about things that have been pledged from the sponsors or from the community," he adds.

How many Recording Academy members were affected by the fires?

"We know right off the bat that we’ve got almost 3,000 requests for help from our members or people in the music community," Mason says. "So that was just in the first few days."

The immediate needs have been "the basics," as he explains. "Food, water, shelter, the bare necessities to live."

"The next phase will involve, you know, where they’re going to live, how are they going to replace maybe damaged or destroyed instruments, studios. How will they make a living? I’m sure there’ll be some mental health component that people may need assistance with. But it’s really across the board. But the early, immediate relief is around just the bare necessities."

Has anything like this happened before?

There's no shortage of natural disasters, and they affect the music community too. Mason brings up the COVID-19 pandemic as a recent example. With MusiCares, they were able to contribute "over $40 million to people who needed help." They have the infrastructure to provide assistance quickly.

However, he notes, the Grammys are the first major award show taking place after the wildfires, which means "there's no playbook for this."

"But I’ve always said it all changes if the fires were to continue, or possibly got worse, or the winds changed. So, I always want to reserve that right. We’re not going to go blindly forward if things are unsafe or if it feels inappropriate," he says.

But consider the fundraising, the economic and financial impacts, and the possibility of unity, "It all makes sense for us to move forward."



‘Saturday Night Live’ Celebrates 50 Years with Comedy, Music and Show’s Many, Many Famous Friends 

Martin Short arrives for the "Saturday Night Live 50: The Anniversary Special" at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, US, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Martin Short arrives for the "Saturday Night Live 50: The Anniversary Special" at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, US, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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‘Saturday Night Live’ Celebrates 50 Years with Comedy, Music and Show’s Many, Many Famous Friends 

Martin Short arrives for the "Saturday Night Live 50: The Anniversary Special" at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, US, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Martin Short arrives for the "Saturday Night Live 50: The Anniversary Special" at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, US, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter duetted on Simon's "Homeward Bound" to open the show, five-decade "Saturday Night Live" luminary Steve Martin delivered the monologue, and Paul McCartney gave an epic closing to a 50th anniversary special celebrating the sketch institution that was overflowing with famous former cast members, superstar hosts and legendary guests.

The 83-year-old Simon has been essential to "SNL" since its earliest episodes in 1975, and told the 25-year-old pop sensation of the moment Carpenter that he first performed "Homeward Bound" on "SNL" in 1976.

"I was not born then," Carpenter said, getting a laugh. "And neither were my parents," she added, getting a bigger laugh.

McCartney closed with the rarely performed song cycle from the Beatles' "Abbey Road,Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End," with its wistful ending, "the love you take, is equal to the love you make."

Lil Wayne and Miley Cyrus were among the night's other musical guests, though the show's musical legacy also had its own night with a Radio City Music Hall concert on Friday.

"SNL50: The Anniversary Celebration" aired live from New York, of course, on NBC and Peacock. The pop culture juggernaut has launched the careers of generations of comedians including Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell, who all appeared in early sketches.

And the evening included epic cameos that included Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and Keith Richards.

Steve Martin's opening sets tone

Martin, one of the shows most prolific hosts and guests since the first season in 1975, tried to keep it current in the monologue even on a backward-looking night.

Martin said when the show's creator Lorne Michaels only told him he'd be doing the monologue, "I was actually vacationing on a friend’s boat down on the Gulf of Steve Martin."

He was joined by former "SNL" luminaries and frequent hosts Martin Short and John Mulaney, who looked at the star-studded crowd full of former hosts in the same Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza that has been the show's longtime home.

"I see some of the most difficult people I have ever met in my entire life," Mulaney said. "Over the course of 50 years, 894 people have hosted ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and it amazes me that only two of them have committed murder."

Later, on the night's "Weekend Update," anchor Colin Jost said there are so many former hosts and musical guests that wanted to see the show that many had to be seated in a neighboring studio and some had to watch "from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn" as a photo of Sean "Diddy" Combs appeared.

Martin took a jab at the always-difficult-to-wrangle Bill Murray in his monologue.

"We wanted to make sure that Bill would be here tonight," Martin said, "so we didn’t invite him."

Murray appeared on "Weekend Update" to rank the show's anchors since they began with Chevy Chase. He poked at the whiteness of the group by first ranking its Black anchors, a list of just one, current co-anchor Michael Che.

The extravaganza came after months of celebrations of "Saturday Night Live," which premiered Oct. 11, 1975, with an original cast that included John Belushi, Chase and Gilda Radner.

It’s become appointment television over the years as the show has skewered presidents, politics and pop culture.

"It is a honor and a thrill to be hosting weekend update for the 50th and if it was up to our president final season of SNL," Jost said.

The show had its typical ending, with all involved looking exhilarated and exhausted on the studio stage. This night it was so crowded with luminaries it looked like it might break. Led by Short, they all applauded in tribute to Michaels, who created the show and has run it for 45 of its 50 years.

Cameos and memorials

Alec Baldwin, the show's most frequent host with 17 stints, appeared to introduce an evening of commercial parodies, seven months after his trial was halted and an involuntary manslaughter charge was dropped in the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Aubrey Plaza made one of her first public appearances since the January death of her husband when she introduced Cyrus and Howard's performance.

The 87-year-old Nicholson was once a constant in the front rows of the Oscars and Los Angeles Laker games, but is rarely seen out anymore. He introduced his "Anger Management" co-star Adam Sandler, who sang in his signature style about the show’s history. He gave a roll-call of cast members, giving special attention to several who have died, including his friends Chris Farley and MacDonald along with Radner, Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman.

It ended with, "six years of our boy Farley, five of our buddy Norm."

The show didn't have a formal "in memoriam" section, though it pretended to when 10-time host Tom Hanks came out somberly to mourn "SNL characters and sketches that have aged horribly."

A montage began with the late Belushi's "Samurai" character. The word "Yikes" appeared on screen in a sketch that included Mike Myers and a young Macaulay Culkin in a bathtub. A "body shaming" label appeared over the beloved sketch of Farley and the late Patrick Swayze as Chippendale's dancers.

The oldest former cast member, 88-year-old Garrett Morris, appeared to introduce a film that showed the whole original cast.

"I had no idea y'all that I would be required to do so many reunion shows," he said.

Sketches and bits jam-packed with former cast and hosts

The first sketch featured a mash-up of former cast members and hosts. Fred Armisen hosted a "Lawrence Welk Show" that featured Ferrell as Robert Goulet.

Former hosts Kim Kardashian and Scarlett Johansson — Jost's wife — gave an updated version of the elegant singing Maharelle Sisters with former cast members Ana Gasteyer and Wiig, who provided the traditional punchline "And I’m Dooneese" with a balding head and creepy, tiny doll arms.

It was followed by "Black Jeopardy," hosted by the show’s longest running (and still current) cast member, Kenan Thompson, who called the game show the only one "where every single viewer fully understood Kendrick’s halftime performance."

It showcased many of the show’s most prominent Black cast members through the years including Tracy Morgan and Murphy, doing a Morgan impression.

Streep walked on as the mother of McKinnon's constant alien abductee Miss Rafferty, with the same spread legs and vulgar manner.

Streep's fellow all-time-great actor Robert De Niro paired with Rachel Dratch in a "Debbie Downer" sketch with its traditional trombone accompaniment.

Former cast member Amy Poehler and former lead writer Tina Fey, who partnered as "Weekend Update" anchors, led a Q-and-A with audience questions.

Ryan Reynolds stood, and they asked him how it's going.

"Great, why?" he said defensively. "What have you heard?"

Reynolds and wife Blake Lively, sitting next to him, have been locked in a heated legal and media battle with her "It Ends With Us" director and co-star Justin Baldoni.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Adam Driver, Cher, Bad Bunny, Peyton Manning and Richards were also featured in the bit.

Poehler also paired with Rudolph for a revival of their mock talk show "Bronx Beat," that featured Mike Myers as his mother-in-law-inspired, Streisand-loving character "Linda Richman."

"Look at you, both of you, you look like buttah," Myers said.