VANITY FAIR - VANITY FAIR OSCAR PARTY SCRAPPED

VANITY FAIR OSCAR PARTY SCRAPPED

Vanity Fair has blamed the writers' strike for its decision to cancel its annual Academy awards party, one of the highlights of the Hollywood calendar.

The 15th invitation-only party, scheduled to have been held at Craft restaurant in Century City, Los Angeles, was likely to have attracted the biggest stars of Tinseltown as well as some of the heavyweights of the California business world.

But while it is believed a tentative rapprochement between the striking Writers' Guild of America (WGA) and Hollywood studios has increased the chance of the 80th Academy awards going ahead, the ongoing industrial action has been cited by Vanity Fair as cause to cancel their celebratory party.

In a statement, the magazine said: "After much consideration, and in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike, we have decided that this is not the appropriate year to hold our annual Oscar party.

"We want to congratulate all of this year's nominees, and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year."

Talking to the New York Times, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter explained that he and his staff were sympathetic to the WGA's cause.

"Whether the strike is over or not, there are a lot of bruised feelings. I don't think it's appropriate for a big magazine from the east to come in and pretend nothing happened," he said.

"There will be something sort of liberating about ordering Chinese food and watching the Oscars in bed."