The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which recently announced its nominees of the 93rd Oscars, is expected to present the awards without any host and has planned “for high profile presenters” to anchor the awards on a “rotating basis”, according to sources accessed by Deadline.
However, no official confirmation has been made by the Academy.
If the Oscars chooses to present awards without hosts this year, it will be the third consecutive year to do so. In 2018, television show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel was the last host of the prestigious award ceremony in 2018. In 2019, actor-comedian Kevin Hart had to step down as host after he faced flak for his homophobic tweets that resurfaced. Despite not having a host in 2019, the ceremony witnessed a 12% increase in viewership. Following the success, the Academy decided to repeat their decision in 2020.
This year’s #Oscars at a glance:
✅ Stars
✅ Performances
✅ Surprises
🚫 HostSee you Feb. 9th!
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 8, 2020
Previous hosts of the Oscars were Ellen DeGeneres (2007, 2014), Hugh Jackman (2009), James Franco and Anne Hathaway (2011), and Neil Patrick Harris (2015), among others.
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Oscars will be held on April 25, after it was delayed from February due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The programme will be streamed live from multiple locations, and will be an in-person event. Nominations in 23 categories were announced through live streaming by international actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas and her husband and singer Nick Jonas on March 15.
The 93rd Oscars’ nominations created history by nominating two women filmmakers for the best director award- Chloé Zhao for Nomadland, and Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman. However, it was Netflix’s Mank, starring Gary Oldman as Citizen Kane writer Herman Mankiewicz, that clinched the most number of nominations with a total count of 10. Riz Ahmed, the lead actor of the Amazon Prime Video film Sound of Metal, created history by becoming the first Muslim contender in the best actor in a leading role.