Trying To Figure Out Who's Hosting The 2019 Oscars? Here's Why You Can't
The answer is unfortunate.
Instagram If you make an annual ritual of watching the Academy Awards, whether attending a super glam Oscars party hosted by your best friends or cozying up with your boyfriend, girlfriend, and/or pets, there are bound to be some particular highlights you look forward to each and every year.
Who's going to wear the most jaw-dropping gown and jewels? Who's going to wear the most outrageously bizarre get up? Whose hair will be the most luscious, and whose will be the most unfortunate? Will anyone trip? Will any speech's make you laugh, cry or grow enraged?
And of course, the kicker for most everyone is who is hosting?
The answer, for the first time since 1989 — 30 years ago! — is simply, no one.
The 91st Annual Academy Awards, which will be live-streamed across the webosphere, were all set to be hosted by comedian Kevin Hart until homophobic posts he'd made on Twitter in 2009, 2010 and 2012 resurfaced in December 2018.
Watch the live streamed broadcast coverage on ABC below:
As reported in Out Magazine: "In a 2009 tweet Hart called someone a 'fat faced fag.' In another from 2010 he said a user's profile picture looked 'like a gay billboard for AIDS.' And then there’s this 2012 tweet: 'Yo if my son comes home & try's 2 play with my daughters doll house I'm going 2 break it over his head & say n my voice 'stop that's gay.'"
The Academy called on Hart to apologize, but he refused, sharing his response directly with the public on Instagram.
“I just got a call from the Academy and that call basically said, ‘Kevin, apologize for your tweets of old or we’re going to have to move on to find another host,’ talking about the tweets from 2009, 2010,” Hart said. “I chose to pass, I passed on the apology. The reason why I’ve passed is that I’ve addressed it several times.”
Later the same day, Hart followed up with a second post on Instagram, but still no apology.
“My team calls me, ‘Oh my God, Kevin, the world is upset about tweets you did years ago. Guys, I’m almost 40 years old. If you don’t believe people change, grow as they get older, I don’t know what to tell you. If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify their past, then do you. I’m the wrong guy, man. I’m in a great place, a great mature place, where all I do is spread positivity.”
Not only was Hart's choice not to apologize an unusual one in today's climate, but the decision then made by the Academy was strikingly unexpected as well.
Rather than find another top comic to take Hart's place, there will simply be no host at the 2019 Oscars.
It appears the drama with Hart, combined with a steadily declining decrease in annual viewers, sealed the deal in the Academy's decision to see how things go with a host-free Awards ceremony.
According to the BBC, last year's audience "was the lowest in in Oscars history, averaging 26.5 million viewers, down from 32.9 million in 2017."
After time-saving ideas such as cutting categories were considered and rejected, it appears "the biggest time-saver may end up being the lack of a host."
As first reported in Variety, the show's producers decided they would instead "select a crop of A-listers to introduce various segments instead of relying on one marquee name to kick things off in a monologue filled with Trump zingers," and planning shifted around creating a "broadcast that will focus on starry skits and play up a high-profile year for music in film, thanks to likely nominees Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton, and Kendrick Lamar."
Just hours prior to tonight's ceremony, Out Magazine also reports that street artists Plastic Jesus and Joshua “Ginger” Monroe erected a life-sized statue of Hart holding a Rainbow Flag and titled "Hollow Apology."
"The unauthorized display on Hollywood Blvd., blocks from where the Academy Awards ceremony will take place, references what the pair believe to be a 'lack of apology' by Hart in reference to his anti-LGBTQ+ tweets that resurfaced shortly after he was announced as host late last year.
“The whole purpose of our Oscars statues is really to get Hollywood and the entertainment industry to look at itself a bit closer and assess what it's doing right and what its doing wrong,” Plastic Jesus said to Out. “The apology he gave was basically about the tweet and not about any beliefs or opinions he clearly holds ... He hasn’t come out and said, ‘I don’t that believe homosexuality is wrong and if any of my children were born gay I would give them all the love and support they need.’ He’s never done that.”
Deputy Editor Arianna Jeret, MA/MSW, has been featured in Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post, Yahoo Style, MSN, Fox News, Bustle, Parents and more. Find her on Twitter and Instagram or more.