With the notable absence of President Donald Trump, the Kennedy Center on Sunday celebrated singers Lionel Richie and Gloria Estefan, rapper LL Cool J, television producer Norman Lear and dancer Carmen de Lavallade with honors for the arts. The Kennedy Center Honors are considered the highest recognition in the country for artists across many fields, and the importance of the annual event is usually underscored by a White House reception with the president and the first lady. Not this year. The White House said in August that Trump and his wife, Melania, would not attend, so that those honored could enjoy the event “without any political distraction.” The White House reception was also canceled after some honorees said they would boycott it. De Lavallade, 86, said she decided she could not attend such an event after Trump said both right- and left-wing extremists were at fault in a white supremacist rally in Virginia where one woman died. “Something in my soul … said no,” she told reporters. Meryl Streep kicked off a tribute to her one-time teacher De Lavallade, an actress and a dancer, who wiped tears from her eyes at the end of a powerful dance and musical performance of an American spiritual with a twist: “She’s Got the Whole World in Her Hands.” You can read more about the event over at Yahoo.com. CBS will broadcast the 40th Kennedy Center Honors show on Dec. 26. No official pictures of Streep’s appearance have been published so far.

The National Board of Review today announced their 2017 honorees, with top honors including “The Post” as Best Film of the Year, Greta Gerwig as Best Director of the Year for “Lady Bird”, Tom Hanks as Best Actor of the Year for his performance in “The Post” and Meryl Streep as Best Actress of the Year for her performance in “The Post”. NBR President Annie Schulhof said, “The Post” is a beautifully crafted film that deeply resonates at this moment in time. We are so thrilled to award it our best film as well as to honor the wonderfully talented Greta Gerwig as our Best Director.” These awards are the latest citation of excellence by the National Board of Review, a tradition going back 108 years. This year 265 films were viewed by this select group of film enthusiasts, filmmakers, professionals, academics, students, many of which were followed by in-depth discussions with directors, actors, producers, and screenwriters. The National Board of Review’s awards celebrate excellence in filmmaking with categories that include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Original and Adapted Screenplay, Breakthrough Performance, and Directorial Debut, as well as signature honors such as the Freedom of Expression and the NBR Spotlight Award. The honorees will be feted at the National Board of Review Awards Gala, hosted by Willie Geist, on Tuesday, January 09, 2018 at Cipriani 42nd Street. This is Meryl Streep’s fifth honor by the National Board of Review. She has won Best Supporting Actress in 1979 for Manhattan, The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer, Best Actress in 1982 for Sophie’s Choice and two Ensemble awards in 2008 for Doubt and in 2009 for It’s Complicated”.

Meryl Streep made a surprise appearance at the annual awards for the Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday night to claim that reporters were navigating a “dangerous” and “poisonous” climate in order to protect the U.S. from demagoguery. She said her own brushes with violent men – including an occasion when she said she had to play dead – had taught her about the bravery and brilliance of women who stand up to powerful men. “I get to meet my heroes,” she said, speaking at the Grand Hyatt in New York. “I really came here tonight to thank you—that’s all. Really, thank you. Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. You are the Fourth Estate. You are our first line of defense against tyranny and state-sanctioned news.” Streep admitted that journalism was currently damaging her industry almost as much as some politicians, but she paid tribute in particular to female investigative journalists exposing abuse. “You are the enemy of the people, yeah! Just the bad people. And I, on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you,” she said. “Thank you, you intrepid, underpaid, over-extended, trolled, and un-extolled, young and old, battered and bold, bought and sold, hyper-alert crack-caffeine fiends. You’re gorgeous, ambitious, contrarian, fiery, dogged and determined bullshit detectives. You’re persevering, cool, objective, indefatigable, chronically fatigued, pharmaceutically soothed, chocolate-comforted Twitter clickers.” Streep said there had never been a more dangerous time to be a female investigative journalist. “We do recognize the special cocktail of venom and ridicule which is always tinged with sexual threat that’s served up online for women—any woman in any profession—that stands up to tell the truth. I revere the people who do this because I am not a naturally brave person,” she said. Pictures have been added to the photo gallery, with many thanks to Mélissa for the heads-up!

Meryl Streep will be attending tonight’s American Cinematheque Gala honoring Amy Adams, so check back in the evening for Simply Streep’s coverage of the event. For The Hollywood Reporter, she has penned a tribute to her two-time co-star: “The toughest act in show business is how to maintain your core central living self while submitting yourself to not only the (sometimes) alien persona of a fictional character but to the relentless forensics that is modern showbiz promotional flogging. Amy has cannily managed this better than most, partly because of her unflagging, good-natured work ethic, but mostly because of a level-headed, uninflated sense of herself, her priorities and what is real and what is bullshit. She has a geiger counter of a bullshit meter, and for such a polite person is not afraid to hold it up to the bloated face of this business and let us all hear the ticking as loud as she does. She won’t perform what is not real, and she won’t say what is not true. I have seen her hold back so as not to hurt feelings, and I have seen her curtail her tongue when it could (should?) give a lashing, but she makes her point as much with what she doesn’t as what she does say. She is a sturdy girl, and a woman of many imaginative gifts: The combo should take her to as long, long, long a career as she can stand to give us.”

Yesterday, Meryl Streep has won her third career Emmy Award, which means she now has three Emmys to go along with her trio of Oscars. Streep prevailed at the 2017 Creative Arts Emmys as Best Narrator for the Netflix documentary “Five Came Back,” though she was not in attendance to accept. Previously, she won Best Movie/Mini Actress for both “Angels in America” (2003) and “Holocaust” (1978). “Five Came Back” is Netflix’s acclaimed three-part series that streamed on March 31. Based on Mark Harris‘ book, the documentary profiles a quintet of Oscar-winning directors who put their Hollywood careers on hold in order to serve their country during World War II. Current directors honor each of the five men: Steven Spielberg for William Wyler, Guillermo del Toro for Frank Capra, Paul Greengrass for John Ford, Francis Ford Coppola for John Huston and Lawrence Kasdan for George Stevens. While Streep provides the narration for all three parts, the finale “The Price of Victory” was her official Emmy submission. That’s the entry that showcases the five directors returning home from war and how it forever affected their personal and professional lives. Streep did not attend the Creative Emmys, so no pictures to add. The full article can be read over at Goldderby. Many thanks to Frank and Glenn for the heads-up.

Imagine Meryl Streep receives an Emmy nomination and you miss the news. Well, that has just happened y’all :-) Many thanks to Frank for pointing out that on Thursday, Meryl received her career’s fourth Emmy nomination (after acting nods for “Holocaust”, “First Do No Harm” and “Angels in America”) in the category of Outstanding Narration for the Netflix series “Five Came Back”. She shares the category with a bunch of co-stars – Liev Schreiber has received two nominations for narrating “Muhammad Ali: Only One” and “UConn: The March to Madness”. Sam Neill is nominated for “Wild New Zealand” and Ewan McGregor for “Wild Scotland”. Rounding out the category is Laurence Fishburne for narrating National Geographic’s “Year Million”. “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War,” tells the extraordinary story of how Hollywood changed World War II – and how World War II changed Hollywood, through the interwoven experiences of five filmmakers who interrupted their successful careers to serve their country, risk their lives and bring the truth back to the American people: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. Now, since Outstanding Narration will not be the pivotal award of the night (and I’m sure they’re given out during the Creative Emmy Awards), let’s not expect a big Emmy night for Meryl – at least now we know that this category even existed.

Last night at Diane Keaton’s AFI Life Achievement Award tribute gala, Meryl Streep paid tribute to her fellow actress in a sartorial way. She channeled Keaton’s iconic style and dressed up in a suit, tie and hat worthy of being in Annie Hall’s closet. Streep’s tribute to her longtime friend went beyond her wardrobe. She also praised Keaton’s work in a heartfelt speech about the actress. “Diane Keaton, arguably one of the most covered-up persons in the history of clothes, is also a transparent woman, even though she is famously the only member of the original cast of Hair on Broadway who would not take off her clothes at the end of the show,” she confessed on stage, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Keaton’s lifetime achievement event airs on TNT on June 15. Pictures have been added to the photo gallery with many thanks to Lindsey for some great additions. Edit: The American Film Institute has posted Meryl’s segment at the ceremony. You can watch it in the video archive.

AFI has announced the first round of talent who will be attending the 45th American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, where Diane Keaton will be honored in a gala tribute. Naturally, Keaton will be in attendance, and as is tradition for the ceremony, many of her costars and friends will be on hand to fête the actress-director-writer-producer. Entertainment Weekly can exclusively reveal that Ellen DeGeneres, Morgan Freeman, Steve Martin, Meryl Streep, and Reese Witherspoon will be in attendance to celebrate Keaton’s career in Hollywood and beyond. Freeman, Martin, and Streep are all previous recipients of the award. Many more names are still to be announced, according to AFI. The gala will take place on Thursday, June 8 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. TNT and TCM will broadcast the event in a one-hour special on June 15 and July 31, respectively. TCM will air the special as part of a night of programming dedicated to the 71-year-old’s work. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

Meryl Streep was among the many celebrity speakers at yesterday’s Chaplin Gala to honor Robert De Niro. Deadline reports that in a speech made at a gala benefit in his honour at the Lincoln Center in New York, the 73-year-old actor took aim at the Trump administration’s “extreme vetting”, which he feared could prevent “the next Chaplin” from entering the country. “All of us in film – directors, actors, writers, crews, audiences – owe a debt to Charlie Chaplin, an immigrant who probably wouldn’t pass today’s extreme vetting. I hope we’re not keeping out the next Chaplin,” he said. In a wide-ranging speech made in acceptance of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Chaplin award, De Niro also criticised the Trump administration’s “hostility” towards the arts, arguing that its proposed termination of agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts had been made for “divisive political purposes”.

By being here tonight, you are supporting arts for everyone. You’re supporting the slapstick of Charlie Chaplin, the great body of work of Marty Scorsese and Barry Levinson, the dumb-ass comedies of Robert De Niro, the overrated performances of Meryl Streep and your own taste and needs.

Pictures from the event have been added to the photo gallery.

The 89th Annual Academy Awards will go down in history for its shocking false announcement in the Best Picture category, which made one forget about the pointless Lagerfeld tabloid story (although Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t resist to ask, “nice dress. Is that an Ivanka?). Kimmel pulled no punches during his opening monologue, joking that the 20-time-nominee was getting a bit too much credit for her acting chops. “We’re here to honor the actors who seem great, but actually really aren’t. And of all the ‘great’ actors here in Hollywood, one in particular has stood the test of time for her many uninspiring and overrated performances,” Kimmel dead-panned. “From her mediocre early work in ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘Out of Africa,’ to her underwhelming performances in ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ and ‘Sophie’s Choice,’ Meryl Streep has phoned it for more than 50 films over the course of her lackluster career.” Kimmel finished things off by asking everyone else in the auditorium to show their appreciation for the actress. “This is Meryl’s 20th Oscar nomination,” he pointed out. “Made even more amazing considering the fact that she wasn’t even in a movie this year, we just wrote her name down out of habit. Everybody, please join me in giving Meryl Streep a totally undeserved round of applause.” The evening went as expected – until its very unexpected end – with a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Meryl’s friend Viola Davis and Javier Bardem paying tribute to Meryl’s performance in “The Bridges of Madison County”, before joining her on stage to present the Best Cinematography category to Linus Sandgren for “La La Land”. Pictures from the (apparently very brief) arrivals and the show have been added to the photo gallery. Many thanks to Lindsey for her contributions. Enjoy, and goodbye to the 2017 awards season!