This year’s Oscar ceremony will go ahead without an official host for the first time in three decades, an executive of ABC television which airs the Academy Awards ceremony said on Tuesday.
ABC entertainment president Karey Burke said that the February 24 event would forgo a host and just have presenters host the Oscars. She made an official announcement of the 2019 hostless Oscar.
“After that, it was pretty clear that we were going to stay the course and just have presenters host the Oscars. We all got on board with that idea pretty quickly. The main goal that the academy promised ABC last year was to keep the show to three hours. Producers decided to not have a host and to go back to having presenters being stars. That’s the best way to keep the show to a brisk three hours,” Burke said at the Television Critics Association meeting in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena.
The decision was taken when US comedian and actor Kevin Hart, who was chosen to the host of the event this year, stepped down after his homophobic tweets resurfaced.
However, the tweets were almost a decade old, but the actor and comedian apologized for his statements and chose not to be the “distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing and talented artists”.
He took the decision on December 7, 2018, and tweeted, I’m sorry that I hurt people.. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.”
I'm sorry that I hurt people.. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.
— Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) December 7, 2018
The last time when the ceremony went without a host was in 1989 when producer Allan Carr decided to go hostless in order to make room for more celebrity presenters.