Will The 2020 Oscars Have A Host?

Who will host the Academy Awards? It’s an annual question that 2019 saw go unanswered after the fiasco surrounding Kevin Hart’s decade-old homophobic Tweets went viral, causing him to step down. Despite not having a host, this year's Oscars still came out on top with relatively good reviews and over 31 million viewers.

The Oscars 2020 may follow suit, though there might be a better option in the works. According to Variety, while many of the Academy Awards producers are mulling over the potential of having no host, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, along with ABC, may try to pivot into having multiple guest stars instead.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Academy Awards had multiple hosts. The 2020 Oscars promotional trailer released Wednesday night already uses footage from the 1975 Academy Awards, which was hosted by Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis Jr., and Bob Hope. Additionally, the 2010 Oscars saw Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin as co-hosts, as well as the year after, which had Anne Hathaway and James Franco lead the award show.

While 2019’s Academy Awards may not have had an official host, there were a number of big-name presenters, such as Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Maya Rudolph, who all ensured the Oscars was just as entertaining as it was ceremonious.

The last time the Academy Awards had no host before 2019 was in 1989. Other award ceremonies have attempted it in the years since, such as the Emmys, which experienced a 32% drop in ratings following a host-less 2019 ceremony.

Academy Award-nominated producer Lynette Howell Taylor and Stephanie Allain, this year’s Oscars production team, have yet to solidify the 2020 Academy Awards as host-less or multi-hosted. Still, the Oscars race is already gearing up to be one fierce competition, what with the recently released list of 344 movies eligible for Best Picture including “Parasite,” “The Irishman,” “Marriage Story,” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

The 92^nd Academy Awards will take place on Feb. 9 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.