It’s beginning to look like the Motion Picture Academy can’t find anyone virtuous enough to spend three hours stroking celebrity egos. After Kevin Hart caved to public pressure against gay-joke Tweets made almost a decade ago, it’s hard to imagine who is so unspotted as to deserve the job.
Matt Donnelly of Variety reported on Dec. 10 that the awards show is “scrambling” to find a new host after Hart’s departure, amid worries that its ratings will once again dip. Last year, with late-night star Jimmy Kimmel as the emcee, the Oscars saw its viewership drop by 19 percent, according to Donnelly.
So with late-night hosts unlikely to bring desirable ratings, but “edgy” hosts incurring the risk of SJW backlash, the Academy is now entertaining a new idea. Donnelly reported that the show’s organizers might do away with solo hosts entirely and instead have “‘a bunch of huge celebs, something SNL style, and buzzy people’ to keep the show moving.” This idea, though clever, has desperation written all over it: If the so-called “buzzy people” participate in a joke that might offend even the smallest of minorities, the blame can now be diffused and diluted among them to ensure that no one (the Academy included) loses his or her standing.
The Academy is considering not having any host at all https://t.co/zeCzF2QGnF
— Variety (@Variety) December 10, 2018
But most people are perfectly aware that all jokes will be made at the expense of Donald Trump, so conservative commentator Ben Shapiro last week floated another idea: let the Commander-in-Chief host.
The Oscars should just let Trump host. He'd double their ratings, their show is going to be all about him anyway, and he'd be far more entertaining than any of their woke alternatives.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 7, 2018
