Earlier this year, controversy preceded the broadcast of the Academy Awards. After announcing Kevin Hart as the 2019 awards ceremony, a movement emerged to remove him from the show after homophobic tweets of his resurfaced online. Ultimately, he stepped down as host and many wondered if they would be able to replace him with a capable host on such short notice. In the end, the awards show went on without a host and television ratings actually increased. Now, it appears that the host-less form may continue into the future.
Rumors about another host-less award show reappeared when ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke made a short statement to reporters earlier today. She said, “I believe we will not mess with that format to the best of our ability.” While a lot can change over the course of a year, this is the strongest indication yet that the show will go on without a host. However, rumors of other possible hosts continue to gain traction. As Variety reports, there is some speculation that Jimmy Kimmel could host this year’s Oscars. Kimmel would make sense given that he hosts a late night show on ABC and he recently signed a three-year extension to remain with the network.
There is still a lot of time between now and the 2020 Oscars, but we’ll keep an eye out for any more updates on the situation.
