Kevin Hart is Oscars’ host

– Comedian Kevin Hart will host next year’s Oscar ceremony for the first time.

“I am so happy to say that the day has finally come for me to host the Oscars,” Hart wrote. The Academy Awards are the film industry’s highest honours.

“So are we,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organises the Oscars, responded on Twitter. Hart, 39, who starred in the 2017 film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle follows talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel who took on the gig in 2017 and 2018.

“I am blown away simply because this has been a goal on my list for a long time,” Hart wrote on his Instagram page, calling the job “the opportunity of a lifetime”.

“To join the legendary list of hosts that have graced the stage is unbelievable,” he added.

The job of hosting the Oscars is one of the most prestigious but also the most difficult in show business as hosts have to navigate the expectations of the A-list audience in the theatre and millions tuning in on television, with a combination of topical and insider jokes.

Hart, who is African-American, is one of just a handful of black Oscar hosts over the past 90 years, including Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg and Sammy Davis Jnr. – Reuters

Los Angeles