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"I am so happy to say that the day has finally
come for me to host the Oscars," Hart wrote. The Academy Awards
are the film industry's highest honors.
"So are we," the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
which organizes the Oscars, responded on Twitter. "Welcome to
the family."
Hart, 39, who also starred in 2017 film "Jumanji: Welcome to the
Jungle" follows talk show host Jimmy Kimmel who took on the gig
in 2018 and 2017.
"I am blown away simply because this has been a goal on my list
for a long time," Hart wrote on his Instagram page, calling the
job "the opportunity of a lifetime."
"To be able to join the legendary list of hosts that have graced
the stage is unbelievable," he added.
The job of hosting the Oscars is one of the most prestigious but
also the most difficult in show business as hosts have to
navigate the expectations of the A-list audience in the theater
and millions tuning in on television, with a combination of
topical and insider jokes.
Hart, who is African-American, is one of just a handful of black
Oscar hosts over the past 90 years, including Chris Rock, Whoopi
Goldberg and Sammy Davis Jr.
His selection comes at a time when the Academy is under pressure
to increase diversity among its own membership, and among the
films and performers nominated for Oscars.
Viewership of the annual ceremony has fallen in recent years,
prompting the Academy to pledge earlier this year to shorten the
show by about 30 minutes to three hours and to hand out some of
the technical awards, like sound editing, during commercial
breaks.
The U.S. television audience for the 2018 Oscars hit an all-time
low of 26.5 million viewers.
Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 22, with the 2019
televised ceremony taking place live in Hollywood on Feb. 24.
(Additional reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Sandra Maler
and Lisa Shumaker)
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