ABC Entertainment PR and an Academy spokesperson have confirmed that the Oscars will officially not be having a host this year. This information comes months after Kevin Hart stepped down as host. The comedian stepped down in December 2018, hours after he was announced as host, after homophobic tweets that he had posted years ago resurfaced.
Kevin Hart had earlier refused to apologise for the tweets, saying, “I chose to pass on the apology. The reason why I passed is because I have addressed this several times. This is not the first time this has come up. I have addressed it. I have spoken on it. I have said where the rights and wrongs were. I have said who I am now versus who I was then. I have done it. I am not going to continue to go back and tap into the days of old when I have moved on and I am in a completely different place in my life.”
He did apologise to the LGBTQ community in January this year, saying, “We thought it was OK to talk like that, because that’s how we talked to one another… This is wrong now (sic).”
The last time the Oscars had no host was in 1989 when producer Allan Carr decided to have more presenters instead of an emcee. This week, a list of presenters was announced that included Whoopi Goldberg, Tessa Thompson and Awkwafina. The Oscars ceremony will be held on February 24, 2019.
