The Oscars Scraps Official Host After Kevin Hart Controversy

(Bloomberg) -- Dresses, speeches, tears. The 2019 Academy Awards ceremony will have all of these, but this year, it won’t have an official host.

The first round of presenters for the 91st Oscars, to be held on Feb. 24, were announced Monday, with no mention of anyone in the role, which has previously been filled by celebrities including Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Martin. ABC confirmed that there would be no host. In December, comedian Kevin Hart was named as the ceremony’s host, but stepped down days later amid a controversy regarding past social media comments that were deemed to be homophobic.

Last year’s event was presented by comedian Jimmy Kimmel.

--With assistance from Christopher Palmeri.

To contact the reporter on this story: Morwenna Coniam in New York at mconiam@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Morwenna Coniam, Clementine Fletcher

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