Ryan Seacrest Returns to Oscar Location With a Smile, Hosts ‘Live’ With Kelly Ripa

A smiling Ryan Seacrest returned to the Oscar stage early on Monday, to co-host Live with Kelly Ripa.

Following the 2018 Academy Awards, where Seacrest spoke with only a few celebrities on the red carpet, he and Ripa took the stage at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

With a large audience behind them, they presented a clip that had been shot the night before showing Ripa speaking with stars such as Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson, Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney, Kobe Bryant, Tiffany Haddish, Faye Dunaway, Octavia Spencer and Guillermo del Toro.

Noticeably, Seacrest was not seen speaking to any of the celebrities in the clip. This is interesting considering that The Daily Mail reports that many celebrities seems to avoid or skip over Seacrest on the Oscars red carpet.

The outlet reports that he only spoke with about 22 people in total, and only four of the 20 acting nominees.

Some of the celebrities that did stop to talk with him while he was hosting E!’s Live from the Red Carpet show were Andy Serkis, Allison Janney, Rita Moreno, Mary J. Blige and Taraji P. Henson.

During the interview with Henson, many presumed that she threw shade at him when she touched his chin and said, “The universe has a way of taking care of taking care of good people. You know what I mean?”

Viewers believed this to be in reference to the sexual misconduct allegations that surfaced against Seacrest over the last few months.

She eventually clarified her comment, saying that she supported Seacrest and adding, “I did it to keep his chin up. It’s an awkward position to be in. He’s been cleared but anyone can say anything.”

Henson’s follow-up comments come from the reports that E! conducted an investigation but reported that they found “insufficient evidence to support the claims” of sexual assault/harassment against Seacrest.

The allegations were brought against Seacrest by former E! stylist Suzie Hardy, who claimed that Seacrest sexually assaulted her.

A friend of hers even detailed a situation that took place before an Oscars Red carpet event where it was alleged that Seacrest grabbed Hardy from behind with “an erect penis in his underwear.”

An attorney for Seacrest released a statement saying, “On January 31st the network notified us that their independent third-party investigation had concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support her claims, effectively, clearing my client’s name.”

“It’s telling that after my client refused to pay her money, and the E! investigation resulted as it did, that she is now coming forward to share her debunked story to the press,” the statement concluded.