Emmy Awards to go ahead in 2020, but host Jimmy Kimmel says they're still working out 'where and how'

Options for the September ceremony include a virtual event or a combination of pre-recorded elements

Jimmy Kimmel will return as host and will serve as executive producer for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards. The show will be broadcast on Sunday, September 20. AP Photo

The Primetime Emmy Awards for television, one of the biggest events on the show business calendar, are going ahead in September as planned with Jimmy Kimmel as host, broadcaster ABC said on Tuesday.

ABC, part of Walt Disney Co, gave no details for how the September 20 show, which hands out the highest honours in television, would be produced in an era when the coronavirus pandemic has forced the cancellation of multiple live events.

“I don't know where we will do this or how we will do this or even why we are doing this, but we are doing it and I am hosting it,” Kimmel said in a statement.

The Emmy Awards are usually held live in Los Angeles in front of an audience of A-list stars and preceded by a red carpet. It had been unclear whether the ceremony would go ahead this year because of restrictions on large gatherings and social distancing requirements.

Tuesday's statement said details of how the show will be produced would be announced soon. Scenarios under consideration include a completely virtual event or a combination of in-person elements, pre-recorded segments and online appearances, according to Hollywood trade publication Variety.

The coronavirus pandemic shut down production of television shows and movies around the world in mid-March and led to the cancellation of film festivals and live concerts.

Los Angeles county health officials last week gave the green light for production of film and television series to resume under strict guidelines to contain the spread of coronavirus among cast and crews on crowded sets.

Kimmel is the host of ABA's Jimmy Kimmel Live! late night talk show and has hosted the Emmy Awards twice in the past.

“We know Jimmy Kimmel will deliver a uniquely entertaining, funny and moving Primetime Emmys show,” Karey Burke, president of ABC Entertainment said in a statement.

Nominations for the Emmy Awards will be announced on July 28.

In the UK, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts will celebrate the best of television broadcast during 2019 in a live show on July 31, with stars and studio audience absent.

It is expected that nominees will film their speeches rather than appear in person and there are no plans for a big audience. There will however be a live element to the BBC show, which actor and filmmaker Richard Ayoade will present.

"All those details are being worked out at the moment because the social distancing rules are changing. What we can say at the moment is that there will be a show in a studio and we're working out the participants," Bafta chair Krishnendu Majumdar told Reuters TV on June 4.