PASADENA, Calif. — The Oscars are going without a host again this year.
ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke said Wednesday that the Feb. 9 telecast will focus on what worked last year: “huge entertainment value, big musical numbers, big comedy and star power.”
Last year’s ceremony attracted 29.6 million viewers, the second-smallest in Oscars history but 12 percent more than in 2018, which ended a four-year slide in viewership.
Comedian Kevin Hart was originally announced as host, but he backed away when some anti-gay tweets he posted a decade ago resurfaced.
ABC and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences agreed to go without a host for a second straight year, Burke said.