OSCARS
What years did the Oscars have no host?
While Oscar fans look forward to finding out who will be hosting every year, here’s a look at the years when the show remained hostless
The Oscars, like most award ceremonies, revolves around the antics of its host, and a great host makes a memorable show, and successful hosts have come back to host the show multiple times.
But there have been times when the prestigious award show has gone without a host, instead leaving the entertainment pressure on its awards presenters. Whether due to controversy on the part of the host, or simply because that year’s producer decided to forego a host, here are the times the show has gone hostless.
The earliest Oscars with no host
In 1939 during the 11th Academy Awards, for the first time ever the award show went without a host. Thirty years later, at the 41st Academy Awards in 1969, the show again went hostless, subsequently followed by the 42nd and 43rd Academy Awards.
No official reason has been given for why these early shows went without a host.
No host for the 61st Academy Awards
In 1989, Alan Carr, known for producing ‘Grease’ and ‘Grease 2′ was given the privilege of producing the Oscars, when he decided there would be no host.
Instead, Carr relied on presenters and performers to drive the show. The opening sequence of the show featured an infamous performance between actors Rob Lowe and Eileen Bowman dressed as Snow White, which was mired in controversy.
Why Kevin Hart pulled out of hosting the 91st Academy Awards
Comedian Kevin Hart was set to host the 2019 Oscars until a series of old homophobic tweets were uncovered. Hart was given an ultimatum by the event, to publicly apologize or say goodbye to hosting the event.
Hart decided to forego the event, saying that he had already apologized multiple times for the tweets in the past, and didn’t see a point in doing it again.
Nevertheless, Hart tweeted an explanation for why he was stepping down and did apologize for offending the LGBTQ community.
Three years without a host, including a pandemic
After Hart stepped down from hosting in 2019, the award ceremony went hostless in 2020, instead offering several presenters to entertain viewers.
This was repeated in 2021 when Oscar show producer Steve Soderbergh explained to Vanity Fair that the COVID-19 pandemic allowed producers to experiment with the show.
“Frankly, if this wasn’t a pandemic year, a lot of the things we’re going to try wouldn’t get approved by the board, or maybe even by ABC,” Soderbergh explained.
“And we haven’t even used the word host, frankly. We’re calling it our ensemble because there’s a sort of overarching structure to the evening that they all participate in. So it’s just that word, the H word, just really doesn’t apply to what we’re doing,” he added.