NETFLIX CHIEF REED HASTINGS DONATES $120M TO HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES: Netflix chairman/CEO Reed Hastings and his wife Patty Quillin are donating $120 million to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, a record single contribution by an individual donor in support of scholarships at HBCUs. “We’ve supported these three extraordinary institutions for the last few years because we believe that investing in the education of Black youth is one of the best ways to invest in America’s future,” Hastings and Quillin said in a statement. “Both of us had the privilege of a great education and we want to help more students — in particular students of color — get the same start in life.”
2021 SPIRIT AWARDS PUSHED BACK TO APRIL: The Film Independent Spirit Awards is delaying its ceremony date due to coronavirus. The show was set for February 27th, 2021, and has now been pushed to Saturday, April 24, 2021. “The Film Independent Spirit Awards will take place on Saturday, April 24, 2021,” Josh Welsh, the president of Film Independent, said in a statement. “Additionally, we will recognize films that were released between Jan. 1, 2020 and Feb. 28, 2021 in acknowledgement of the unique challenges the world of cinema, and the world as a whole, is currently experiencing.”
GABRIELLE UNION REFLECTS ON ACCOUNTABILITY IN HOLLYWOOD: Gabrielle Union appeared The Daily Social Distancing Show on the need to hold “bad apples accountable” within the industry. She also reflected on her ouster from America’s Got Talent. She told The Daily Distancing Show: “Trying to figure out how you work around the bad apples as opposed to addressing and making those bad apples accountable. In front of and behind the camera, there has to be an increase in representation from across the board, from the top to the bottom — who gets to make the decisions of which projects to green light, who is a part of those development process, who gets to determine budgets.”
CINEMARK TO REOPEN JULY 17: Cinemark, the country’s third-largest movie circuit, is reopening across the country July 17, and will encourage customers to wear masks. Cinemark will begin to reopen in Dallas June 19th, and will reopen the rest between July 3-17th in advance of major releases like Mulan (July 24) and Tenet (July 31and smaller titles like Unhinged (July 10) and The Broken Hearts Gallery (July 17).
