David Guetta Tells Fans Ahead of Louvre Gig: 'Get the Vaccine'

French DJ David Guetta performs at the 2017 MTV Europe Music Awards at Wembley Arena in London, Britain, on November 12, 2017. (REUTERS/Dylan Martinez)
French DJ David Guetta performs at the 2017 MTV Europe Music Awards at Wembley Arena in London, Britain, on November 12, 2017. (REUTERS/Dylan Martinez)
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David Guetta Tells Fans Ahead of Louvre Gig: 'Get the Vaccine'

French DJ David Guetta performs at the 2017 MTV Europe Music Awards at Wembley Arena in London, Britain, on November 12, 2017. (REUTERS/Dylan Martinez)
French DJ David Guetta performs at the 2017 MTV Europe Music Awards at Wembley Arena in London, Britain, on November 12, 2017. (REUTERS/Dylan Martinez)

French DJ David Guetta said he hoped everybody would get vaccinated against COVID-19, shortly before recording a charity concert outside the Louvre Museum in Paris that will be streamed on New Year's Eve.

Guetta, known for his collaborations over nearly two decades with artists such as Akon, J Balvin, Nicki Minaj and Kelly Rowland, is raising money for UNICEF and French charity Les Restos du Coeur, which provides food and meals to people in need.

"I'm going to do the vaccine, and I hope people are going to do it too because I don't see any other way to go out of this situation," Guetta told Reuters ahead of recording the gig.

France, with 2,57 million cases and more than 64,000 dead, is one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe and in the world by the pandemic.

But the French are among the most skeptical about vaccines in the world, with opinion polls showing less than half the population intends to get a COVID shot.

France launched its COVID-19 vaccine roll-out on Sunday, along with other European Union nations.

Guetta said he hoped for an end to the pandemic in 2021 and one big, mad party.

"I want to tell them (my fans) that we are about to witness the craziest party year of our lifetime because the minute it's going to be open, you know, it's going to be amazing", he said.

The Paris gig is part of the 'United at Home' charity initiative the DJ launched earlier this year.

Guetta has already performed two charity concerts in 2020, raising $1.5 million.



Spielberg, De Niro, Freeman Praise Francis Ford Coppola as He Accepts the AFI Life Achievement Award

Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, right, accepts the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award from presenters George Lucas, left, and Steven Spielberg on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, right, accepts the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award from presenters George Lucas, left, and Steven Spielberg on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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Spielberg, De Niro, Freeman Praise Francis Ford Coppola as He Accepts the AFI Life Achievement Award

Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, right, accepts the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award from presenters George Lucas, left, and Steven Spielberg on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, right, accepts the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award from presenters George Lucas, left, and Steven Spielberg on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Steven Spielberg proclaimed “The Godfather” the “greatest American film ever made,” Robert De Niro teasingly bemoaned being cast in the sequel and not the original and Harrison Ford fought back tears reflecting on his role in the 1974 film, “The Conversation.”
At the center of it all was Francis Ford Coppola, who on Saturday received the AFI Life Achievement Award at a ceremony at Dolby Theatre that brought together legendary stars from a seemingly bygone era of cinema,
A founding AFI trustee, Coppola’s recognition from the organization was a kind of full circle moment for the “Apocalypse Now” director.
“When I was a kid there was the Oscars and that was it. Now they’re going to have an award show for the best award show,” the 86-year-old said on the red carpet ahead of the show. “But this is a little different because it’s a personal recognition of the people that you’ve known all your life and your colleagues over many years, so it’s like a homecoming in a way.”
“You, sir, are peerless. You have taken what came before and redefined the canon of American film,” Spielberg said.
Coppola sat between Spielberg and George Lucas, as actors and fellow filmmakers like Spike Lee, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Morgan Freeman took turns gushing over the Oscar winner.
“Dreamer of dreams on a dime, teller of tales that cost and lost millions. But tonight, (expletive) the bankers and the bank,” Freeman said to laughs and cheers.
Lucas, Coppola’s longtime friend and colleague, presented him with the award. The pair have known each other for decades and cofounded their own production company, American Zoetrope, in 1969.
“You rounded up a bunch of young film students, gathered us together. We moved to San Francisco, hoping to beat the system. And we did. Like the filmmakers from the dawn of the art form, we had no rules. We wrote them, and you were holding the pen,” Lucas said.
Coppola was mostly stoic throughout the ceremony as Hollywood sang his praises — until he accepted the award at the end of the night. He beamed as he approached the stage and thanked the room, which was filled with some of his family members as well as multigenerational A-listers.
“Now I understand here, this place that created me, my home, isn’t really a place at all, but you — friends, colleagues, teachers, playmates, family, neighbors, all the beautiful faces are welcoming me back,” he said. “I am and will always be nothing more than one of you.”
Coppola was the 50th recipient of the award first handed out to John Ford in 1973.
Guests were served wine from the Francis Ford Coppola Winery and after dinner — true to his Italian heritage — a trio of cannolis. Actors who have worked with Coppola painted a unified picture of him as a director, reminiscing on how they were invited to participate and educated about film in a way that empowered them.
“He’s very professorial. He talks about history and things and even older movies in the scene he’s inspired by,” said “The Godfather III” star Andy Garcia. “You go into working with him in a movie, and you go in seeking an associate’s degree and you would walk out with a master’s.”
Coppola last year released his long-in development “Megalopolis,” a Roman epic set in a modern New York. The film drew mixed reviews from critics and flopped with audiences. Coppola, though, has maintained he was compelled to make “Megalopolis” as an artist, not as a businessman. He self-financed the film.
“For a year in our culture when the importance of the arts is minimized, and our industry is seemingly out in the open that the only metric to judge a film’s success is by how much money it makes, I hang on to individuals like Francis for inspiration, who live through their convictions,” said Adam Driver, who starred in the film.
Last year’s AFI honoree was Nicole Kidman. Other recent recipients include John Williams, Mel Brooks, Denzel Washington and Julie Andrews.