What a roster! Over the past 20 years, celebrities including Whoopi Goldberg, Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Kimmel have hosted the Academy Awards.
While there is no shortage of incredible stars who have taken the stage at Hollywood’s biggest night, there have also been years where the Oscars chose to go without any emcee at all.
In 2019, Kevin Hart stepped down from his hosting duties at the 91st Academy Awards after a series of his past homophobic tweets resurfaced online.
“I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscar’s….this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past,” the comedian, 43, tweeted in December 2018. “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.”
Hart made headlines earlier that month when the since-deleted controversial remarks, which he wrote in 2011, were discovered by fans. “Yo if my son comes home & try’s 2 play with my daughter’s doll house I’m going 2 break it over his head & say n my voice ‘stop that’s gay,” the Jumanji star tweeted at the time. (Hart shares son Hendrix and daughter Heaven with ex Torrei Hart and son Kenzo with wife Eniko Parrish.)
Prior to backing out of the show, the Academy requested that Hart apologize for his comments. However, Hart shared that he initially “passed” on the apology because he had “addressed” the tweets several times before and did not want to “reward” the “internet trolls.”
He later took to Instagram to address the controversy further, writing, “You LIVE and YOU LEARN & YOU GROW & YOU MATURE. I live to Love …. Please take your negative energy and put it into something constructive. Please …. What’s understood should never have to be said. I LOVE EVERYBODY ….. ONCE AGAIN EVERYBODY. If you choose to not believe me then that’s on you …. Have a beautiful day.”
The 2019 Oscars went on without a host, instead highlighting celebrities presenting the trophies. ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke said at the time that the ceremony would “just have presenters host” and that the “compelling” mystery surrounding the event proved viewers would tune in.
The Academy followed suit for the next two years, not re-introducing the traditional format until 2022 when Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer took the stage. When asked why the trio decided to take on one of entertainment’s toughest jobs, Hall and Sykes gushed over the opportunity for women to collaborate together.
“If they had come to me and said, ‘Hey, do you want to host the Oscars by yourself?’ I would have said ‘Hell no, absolutely not,’” Sykes told the New York Times in March 2022. “Why would I want to do that? I like my life. But with the two of them, I’m really looking forward to it.”
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Keep scrolling see all the hosts of Oscars past.