The Academy Awards aren’t complete without their famous attendees, cameras, and red carpet. One of those features, however, is being updated this year. Sunday’s Oscars ceremony will feature a champagne-colored rug rather than the traditional red one, as announced during Wednesday’s Oscars carpet rollout event in Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, the announcement was made by Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel outside Dolby Theatre. Kimmel joked that “no blood will be shed” on the light-colored flooring, referencing the infamous Will Smith incident from last year’s show, in which Smith walked on stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock.
“People have been asking, is there going to be any trouble this year?” Kimmel said. “Is there going to be any violence this year? We certainly hope not, but if there is, I think the decision to go with a champagne carpet rather than a red carpet shows how confident we are that no blood will be shed.”
Celebrities have long used the red carpet at the Oscars as a platform to show off their outfits to the world. According to the Associated Press, the red carpet walk of fame has been used since the 33rd Academy Awards in 1961. Even though it wasn’t broadcast in color, that ceremony was the first to air on television.
The Academy Awards are the most recent event to break with the red carpet tradition. There was a gold carpet at the Emmys in 2017, but this year the carpet at the Golden Globes was gray. According to the Associated Press, Lisa Love, a Vogue contributor, and creative consultant for this year’s Oscars, spearheaded the decision to switch up the carpet.
According to what Love said to the AP, organizers wore a brighter-colored canopy. A sienna-colored ceiling will hang over the red carpet. “This is just a lightness and hopefully people like it,” Love said, according to the AP. “It doesn’t mean it’s always going to be a champagne-colored carpet.”
