Sorry… But A Female Oscar Host Would Have Been a Much Better Choice
You’ve probably heard the news. Comedian and actor Kevin Hart has been chosen to be the host of the upcoming 2019 Academy awards ceremony.
Choosing Hart to be the host for the Oscars is a safe bet from the Academy, but I have a feeling that it’s a wrong one to make. Seriously. A female host would have been a much better choice.
Why? Because a female host (and especially a good pick of a host) would be edgy and overall right move. To be frank, the Oscars haven’t had their luck in picking the right host for years now, and with the exception of Ellen Degeneres and Whoopy Goldberg there hasn’t been a solo female host in decades. Anne Hathaway hosted the Oscars alongside James Franco… and that’s pretty much it.
My pick would have been Michelle Wolf, but she’s a persona non grata after her performance at the Correspondent’s dinner which was both praise and heavily criticized, but I think she would have brought the edge, bite and cockiness to her host duties at the Kodak Theater.
But Kevin Hart? No, I don’t think so. He’s been not the most bankable movies star in Hollywood, despite starring in mostly comedies. Secondly, he’s a comedian and actor with a limited experience in hosting award ceremonies.
His past solo hosting experiences include the Bet awards in 2011 and 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, and that’s pretty much it. He’s been also known to make controversial jokes in his stand up specials (like promoting homophobia), he’s been arrested for DUI and he’s publicly admitted to cheating on his wife, while she was pregnant with his child.
Look, I know that the Academy is desperate to get those ratings up, but picking Kevin Hart is not the answer. Hosting the Oscar is a sensible and very unforgiving thing, and one wrong move (or god forbid be even more boring than Franco) he’ll likely become a meme or the butt of the joke for years to come.
Secondly, The Academy will even go steady with his comedic talent and give him the most basic, safe and benign jokes out there, just to be on the safe side of things. And in just over a year after the #MeToo movement, it’s understandable to be honest. Picking a female comedian would have been perceived like a suck up move on behalf of the Academy and this is the closest thing to avoiding the whole thing. Sure, he’ll mention the MeToo, but most of the focus will be sadly put once again on Trump, politics of Trump and the politics in general.
A female Oscar host would have been a more reasonable choice, but then again. The Academy wants to pull the impossible move. Get the ratings up without pissing anybody. Kevin Hart is OK for that but Michelle would have bring the house down.
Just saying.
