Oscars 2020: Former Hosts Billy Crystal, Jimmy Kimmel Slam Hostless Awards Show

The 92nd Academy Awards are set to air on Feb. 9. Like the 2019 broadcast, this year’s ceremony will be conducted without a host. During a recent chat on The Jimmy Kimmel Show, Jimmy Kimmel and Billy Crystal, two former hosts of the awards ceremony, spoke about the Academy’s decision to go host-less route once again, as Deadline noted.

“This year is another no-host show, which is like having a trial without witnesses,” Crystal joked on the Feb. 6 episode of the late-night talk show, referring to the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. “It moves faster, but it’s not quite the result that you want.”

When Kimmel asked his guest if having a host was important, Crystal replied with, “Well, yeah! Don’t you?”

The host, in turn, replied, “It seems like it.”

“It’;s the tradition of it,” Crystal went on to say about the hosting issue. “I always loved being out there. I loved the, I guess, the trust that the movie academy had in me to get me out there.”

“When you have a show as long as it is, things are going to happen,” Crystal continued. “The problem with the no-host thing, perhaps, is there’s not somebody out there to capitalize on that moment.”

The When Harry Met Sally actor added that some of his favorite moments as a host came during unexpected moments, such as his 1992 bit with centenarian Hal Roach. He also brought up the moment during the 2017 Oscars when La La Land was erroneously named the Best Picture winner instead of Moonlight, a moment which host Kimmel was able to joke about afterward.

“I hope they get the right people out there in case something–” Crystal started to say, before Kimmel interrupted him to add, “I hope they don’t! I hope it’s a disaster.”

Kimmel continued to joke, “We have to stick together. These jobs are very few.”

Crystal previously hosted the Academy Awards four years in a row from 1990 to 1993, and again in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, and 2012. Kimmel hosted in 2017 and 2018, the most recent year that the show had a host.

Kevin Hart was originally tapped to host the Academy Awards in 2019, but after a scandal emerged concerning his resurfaced, homophobic tweets, he stepped down from the post. The ceremony subsequently went without a host for the first time since 1989, per The Atlantic. Of course, as previously mentioned, during the 2020 Oscars, the ceremony will once again go in a host-less direction.

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