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"Let me confirm it now. Together with the
Academy (of Motion Pictures), we have decided there will be no
traditional host again this year," Karey Burke, president of ABC
Entertainment, told television reporters.
The 2019 Oscars was the first in 30 years to have no host and
saw the audience on broadcaster ABC <DIS.N> rise to 29.6 million
Americans, breaking a four-year trend of falling viewership for
the live ceremony.
Burke said the decision not to have a host for the Feb. 9 event,
the most prestigious awards in the movie business, was prompted
by good reviews last year, when rock band Queen opened the show
with a live performance to celebrate the box office success of
the musical "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Burke said organizers planned on "repeating what worked for us
last year - huge entertainment value, big musical numbers, big
comedy."
"A lot of incredible elements have already come together and
convinced us that we are going to have an incredibly
entertaining show again," she added, without giving details.
Nominations for the 2020 Oscars will be announced on Monday.
Finding a host for big awards show has become increasingly
difficult in recent years. Comedian Kevin Hart pulled out of the
2019 Oscars job after being slammed on social media for
homophobic comments he had made in the past. He apologized.
Other comedians, including Ricky Gervais at Sunday's Golden
Globes, have met with criticism for being either too harsh, too
political, or too soft in their jokes.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and
Leslie Adler
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