The Oscars must go on – without a host
It should, in theory, be one of the most exciting days in Hollywood.
Tomorow, the nominations for the Oscars will be announced, and the flutter of anticipation will explode, for nominees, into a fully fledged frenzy.
And yet for the producers of the ceremony, to be held on February 25, the approaching awards is cause this year for consternation rather than celebration. It now looks likely that there will be no host for the starstudded gala – a bizarre state of affairs caused by the unearthing of homophobic tweets from comedian Kevin Hart, forcing him to step down days after he was appointed.
Despite an energetic campaign from Ellen DeGeneres, Hart’s friend, who admitted she rang the Academy to plead for his reinstatement, the backlash from Hart’s apology – deemed to have been insufficient, and grudgingly issued under sufferance – has proved too strong. Instead of a host, this year a series of stars will introduce the various categories and presenters – something that has only happened once before, 30 years ago.
With no one to attempt to riff off Donald Trump’s government shutdown or crack jokes at the expense of Brexit Britain, it may help the producers with their goal of shortening the ceremony to under three hours. But it may also make for a leaden night.
Such is the Oscars producers’ desperation to secure megastars for their show, they have reportedly been pressuring agents to prevent their clients presenting awards at any other show this year – a tactic derided as ‘‘graceless’’ intimidation by the Screen Actors Guild, the US’s largest actors union.
Last year’s show drew record low ratings; the all-time high of 55 million viewers in 1998, plunged to a mere 26.5 million.
– Telegraph Group