Entertainment

TV executive confirms there will be no Oscars host for first time in 30 years

Instead, the show will rely on celebrity presenters including Daniel Craig and Jennifer Lopez.
Instead, the show will rely on celebrity presenters including Daniel Craig and Jennifer Lopez. Instead, the show will rely on celebrity presenters including Daniel Craig and Jennifer Lopez.

The Academy Awards will be without a host for the first time in three decades after preferred choice Kevin Hart stepped down amid a row over homophobic tweets.

Karey Burke, president of ABC Entertainment, the network which broadcasts the Oscars, said the February 24 ceremony would “just have presenters”.

They include Daniel Craig, Jennifer Lopez and Tina Fey.

Speaking at an event in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Burke said the confusion surrounding the hosting gig had increased interest in the big night.

She said: “Ironically, I have found that the lack of clarity around the Oscars has kept them in the conversation. The mystery is really compelling. People really care.”

Burke also confirmed the Academy was hoping to keep the ceremony shorter than three hours, after it ran to nearly four hours 12 months ago.

That lengthy show also delivered an all-time low viewership, with 26.5 million tuning in across the US.

The last time the Academy Awards had no host was in 1989.

Even before Hart pulled out, the hosting job had been branded “the worst job in town” by influential trade magazine The Hollywood Reporter.

That description followed a string of controversies surrounding the show, including the #OscarsSoWhite campaign and the embarrassing mix-up on stage at the 2017 Oscars which saw the wrong film named best picture.