The Oscars Will Officially Go Hostless for Just the Second Time in the Award Show’s History
On February 24th, the Oscars will air on ABC. The star-studded event will mark the 91st year of the classic annual ceremony, one that brings together some of the brightest, most talented names that Hollywood has to offer. That said, this year’s ceremony will be missing something that has been consistently present for the past three decades. There will be performances, presenters, and awards aplenty…but no host.
The announcement came Tuesday when the head of ABC Entertainment said that, after much debate, the network has decided to cut the role of the host altogether, instead opting for presenters to share hosting duties throughout the ceremony.
While we’re not sure what that might look like, we do know that the Academy has secured some seriously top-notch presenters. It recently announced its first round, revealing that actors Awkwafina, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lopez, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amandla Stenberg, Charlize Theron, Tessa Thompson, and Constance Wu would take the stage.
It may be a controversial decision, but with star power like that in presenting roles, we have a feeling the ceremony will go off without a hitch!
The events that lead to this ‘hostless’ Oscars
On December 5th, actor and comedian Kevin Hart posted an image of an Oscars statuette to his various social media accounts, along with a long message that, in a nutshell, proclaimed that he had accepted the role as the 2019 Oscars host. He described the job as an “opportunity of a lifetime,” but just two days later, old tweets of his had resurfaced, ones that were, unfortunately, laced with homophobic epithets.
Unsurprisingly, folks were pretty offended by the revelation and called for the Academy to yank its offer from Hart. After a dramatic series of apologies–both requested and subsequently withdrawn–the actor decided to step away from his hosting duties before he even got a chance to start rehearsals. He posted a series of videos to social media, detailing his frustration about the situation, primarily the public’s unwillingness to believe that he had matured beyond the tweets in question.
Dozens of celebrities vouched for him, including talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who, herself, hosted the Oscars back in 2014. She invited Hart onto her show as a way to get him to re-think his decision of stepping down. Interestingly, DeGeneres experienced quite a bit of blowback from the episode, and it seemed that, despite her support, Hart had made his decision.
Ever since that interaction, we hadn’t heard much about the Academy’s predicament, until the official announcement was made on February 6th.
Watch the video below to get the full scoop on this year’s ceremony. This is sure to be an Oscars to remember!
We’d love to hear your take on this ‘hostless’ Oscars. Are you surprised that the Academy decided against hiring a host? Do you think it made a bad decision to demand an apology from Kevin Hart? Do you plan to watch?
