Busy Phillips threw her own name out there (“I AM AVAILABLE,” she tweeted). Others have said Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele, Will Smith or Lin-Manuel Miranda. Some have said Ellen DeGeneres, who hosted one of the Oscars’ highest-rated shows, or Tom Hanks, who has a longstanding academy relationship. Many keep coming back to Whoopi Goldberg, who has hosted the awards four times.

A woman? A comedian? Not a comedian? Someone in the LGBTQ community? All of the above? Now everyone has an opinion about who should be named host. He bowed out on his own, and with an apology. Hart said the film academy told him he had to apologize or he’d lose the gig.

The film academy has yet to address Hart’s departure. “Hart’s apology to LGBTQ people is an important step forward, but he missed a real opportunity to use his platform and the Oscars stage to build unity and awareness,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. The advocacy organization GLAAD wishes Hart hadn’t stepped down, however. “(Expletive) ‘em if they can’t take a joke! Well done #KevinHart.” Snoop Dogg posted an even more colorful Instagram video in support of Hart. “A Comedian says something that offends people and refuses to apologize?” Hughley tweeted. The outrage escalated, Hart commented but did not apologize, stoking even more outrage, which culminated with Hart’s announcement on Thursday night that he was stepping down as host of the 91st Academy Awards.Īs the dust settles, the situation has proved vexing for some in the entertainment business. By Thursday morning, a few publications had written articles about them. Immediately after Hart was confirmed as host on Tuesday night, some journalists began tweeting reminders of Hart’s past comments. As with Hart, the problematic tweets were amplified by social media outrage. fired director James Gunn from the third “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie for old tweets in which he joked about subjects including rape and pedophilia. Just this past summer, the Walt Disney Co. But in 2018, an unsavory social media past can cost someone their job.

The Festering by Guy N. Smith