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Drake is the leading nominee at the 2020 BET Awards, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary later this month.BET announced Monday that Drake is nominated for six honors, including video of the year and best male hip-hop artist. For both best collaboration and the viewer’s choice award, Drake is nominated twice thanks to the hits “No Guidance” with Chris Brown and “Life Is Good” with Future.
The 2020 BET Awards will air live on June 28 across ViacomCBS networks, including CBS for the first time. The show, which will be a virtual celebration because of the coronavirus pandemic, will also air on BET and BET HER.FILE – This Nov. 20, 2019, file photo shows Megan Thee Stallion during a portrait session in New York. The singer says she works extremely hard in the studio when it comes to writing music.Breakthrough rappers Megan Thee Stallion and Roddy Ricch follow Drake with five nominations each. Megan Thee Stallion, who recently topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with her Beyoncé-assisted “Savage” remix, is nominated for video of the year, best female hip-hop artist, best collaboration, the viewer’s choice award and album of the year for “Fever.”
Ricch, who won his first Grammy Award earlier this year, also topped the pop charts with his upbeat hit “The Box.” The video for that song is nominated for video of the year alongside DaBaby’s “Bop,” DJ Khaled, Nipsey Hussle and John Legend’s “Higher,” Doja Cat’s “Say So,” Megan The Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer” and Chris Brown and Drake’s “No Guidance.”
Beyoncé, Minaj, Brown, Lizzo and DaBaby earned four nominations each.
Kanye West, who released a gospel album last year, is nominated for the Dr. Bobby Jones best gospel/inspirational award. He will compete with Kirk Franklin, the Clark Sisters, Fred Hammond, John P. Kee and PJ Morton. 
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For the fourth time in its history, the Oscars are being postponed. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ABC Television Network said Monday that the 93rd Academy Awards will now be held April 25, 2021, eight weeks later than originally planned because of the pandemic’s effects on the movie industry.  The Academy’s Board of Governors also decided to extend the eligibility window beyond the calendar year to Feb. 28, 2021, for feature films, and delay the opening of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures from December until April 30, 2021. “Our hope, in extending the eligibility period and our Awards date, is to provide the flexibility filmmakers need to finish and release their films without being penalized for something beyond anyone’s control,” said Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson in a joint statement.  Karey Burke, the president of ABC Entertainment, added: “We find ourselves in uncharted territory this year and will continue to work with our partners at the Academy to ensure next year’s show is a safe and celebratory event.”  The 12th annual Governors Awards has also been canceled. The event, in which honorary Oscars are bestowed to previously announced recipients, is generally held in Los Angeles during the second week of November. The untelevised event is a major gathering for many of the year’s awards hopefuls.  The film academy has been grappling with how to handle the pandemic’s near shutdown of the theatrical exhibition and film production and festival business since mid-March. With theaters shuttered, release dates pushed and major festivals like Cannes canceled, the academy in April made the unprecedented decision to allow films that did not have a theatrical run to be eligible for the awards — but only for one year.  The Oscars ceremony date was the big lingering unknown, however. The organization’s leadership has acknowledged all along that the situation was fluid and that everything was on the table. Now, Oscars nominations will be announced on March 15 and the nominees luncheon will be on April 15. Still, many decisions need to be made. Academy leadership has not yet addressed the format of the show and whether it will be virtual or in-person. Further, the future eligibility of films for the 94th Oscars and that show date will be announced later. The Oscars have been postponed before, but never this far in advance. The ceremony was pushed back a week because of disastrous flooding in Los Angeles in 1938. In 1968, it was delayed two days following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And in 1981, it was put off for 24 hours after President Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington D.C. The 1981 decision was made four hours before the broadcast was scheduled to begin.  The eligibility window was extended beyond 12 months once before — in advance of the 6th Academy Awards in 1934.  Other entertainment industry awards shows are also in flux. The 74th Tony Awards, originally set for June 7, has been postponed indefinitely. But the 72nd Emmy Awards is still holding onto Sept. 20. The 78th Golden Globes does not yet have a date.  Even as the country begins to “open up,” studios are still making decisions to delay releases. Just Friday, Warner Bros. announced that it was pushing back what was supposed to be the first major movie in theaters, Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” by two weeks.  
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Senegalese artists are taking a stand against racism and police brutality after George Floyd died in police custody in the United States. One street art crew is creating a fresco in the capital, Dakar, where Senegalese have held demonstrations this month in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.Camera: Estelle Ndjandjo Produced by: Rod James 
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The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on South Korea’s film industry – one of the world’s most vibrant. And with growing concern over continuing outbreaks, it’s uncertain when audiences will feel safe enough to return to movie theaters.     Most South Korean cinemas never shut their doors during the pandemic even though box office sales have plummeted.  In May, over 1.5 million movie tickets were sold nationwide, down from nearly 17 million in January, according to the Korea Film Council. It was an improvement over April’s numbers, which dropped to a record low of 970,000 tickets.   Jason Bechervaise, who lectures on Korean cinema at Soongsil Cyber University in Seoul says the country’s film industry is “facing its biggest crisis” because of the coronavirus.   It’s a setback for an industry that gained global recognition when the dark comedy “Parasite” prevailed at the Academy Awards ceremony in February, becoming the first non-English language movie to take home the Oscar for Best Picture.  But, compared to film industries in Hollywood, China or Europe, South Korea’s is in a better position to bounce back, Bechervaise says.    “The industry has slowed down but hasn’t ground to a halt like it has in other countries,” Bechervaise says. “It’s resilient and cinemas are still open and as (COVID-19) cases decline, hopefully people will feel more confident about going to see films again.” South Korea was one of the first nations to flatten the curve of the disease, which health officials attribute to rapid testing and technology-based contact tracing.  But, in recent weeks the country has experienced an uptick in new infections, bringing the total number of cases to at least 12,121, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday.    Faced with these rising numbers and what health experts warn could be a second wave of infections later this year, there’s scant expectation that box office revenue will return to pre-pandemic levels soon.   ‘Un-tact cinema’Now, one of South Korea’s largest cinema chains is trying to make movie-fans feel more comfortable about coming back to the theater by limiting contact between guests and staff as much as possible.    CJ-CGV has launched what it calls an “un-tact cinema” at one of its branches in Seoul where the popcorn, hot dogs and soft drinks have been relocated into vending machines and other snack bar orders are placed on kiosks and are delivered through a hands-free box.   Ticket takers have been replaced by two roving robots that provide showtime and other theatre information on their touch-screen torsos.   “It’s more hygienic than being face to face, so guests can feel safer and it’s just a more cool and interesting place,” says Lee Seung-soo, a CJ CGV official.      Lee says his company had been considering rolling-out some of these automated features even before the coronavirus compelled businesses to adopt social or physical distancing policies. But the urgency of preventing disease transmission between customers pushed-up the unveiling of the “un-tact cinema.”   He explains that in addition, CJ-CGV regularly disinfects all its facilities, and rows of theatre seats are left empty to provide more space between audience members.  He adds that employees will not lose their jobs due to automation and will instead be transferred to other positions.  “This un-tact cinema at this branch is just a test for now,” says Lee. “Based on how this program goes, we will decide whether to introduce these services to other locations.” Lotte Cinemas, another multiplex operator, has also introduced contact-free features at some of its venues according to media reports.  For some South Korean film buffs though, automated cinemas still might not provide the desired protection from COVID-19 carrying strangers.   Drive-in theaters Some are instead seeing the big screen from inside the safety of their own cars.  Park Jae-ho, whose family runs Seoul’s only drive in movie theatre says when the pandemic began, ticket sales soared. “Normally, business isn’t so good, but once the coronavirus hit, sales went up by 30-percent,” he says.   But like all cinemas in South Korea, Park’s drive in has mainly screened re-releases, because film production companies have pushed back opening dates for many new movies.   “Ticket sales are getting back to normal,” Park says. “Customers won’t come if they can’t watch new films.”  Lim Yoo-na and her boyfriend Kim Jeong-hak recently attended a screening of 2016’s La La Land at the Seoul drive in. The couple says they used to catch a movie up to three times a week before the pandemic.   “It feels safer inside a car than at a theatre right now,” Lim, a 28-year old baker, says.     Kim says he’s not sure when they will be able to resume their normal dating routine.  “We are going to wait until the pandemic is over before we start returning to movie theaters,” the 35-year old web designer says. “And there would also have to be some new films to watch before we’d go back.”  
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