Kevin Hart’s very public exit from the 2018 Academy Awards has left a vacuum in the entertainment industry, but it’s not the easiest thing to fill on such short notice.
We covered this last week. Kevin Hart stepped down as the host of the 91st Oscars after a string of homophobic tweets from 2009 surfaced. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one of the comedian’s tweets read, “Yo if my son comes home & try’s 2 play with my daughters doll house I’m going 2 break it over his head & say n my voice ‘stop that’s gay.'” (RELATED: Kevin Hart Steps Down As Oscars Host After Old Tweets Surface)
He has since apologized for the tweets and stepped down from the hosting role, but that’s left the awards ceremony scrambling to find a new host.
And according to TMZ, that task is no easy feat.
Sources close to the Academy told TMZ that the “infamously low paycheck” is keeping quality potential hosts at bay. Jimmy Kimmel, the host of the 2017 awards show, only made about $15,000 — which seems like a pretty big number but the show does require a lot of preparation. And since the 2019 Oscars are little more than two months away, it’s going to require a lot of intensive prep work to impress a room full of Hollywood’s finest.
Still, some pretty big names have been thrown around for the task. Will Smith, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Melissa McCarthy have all been suggested for a potential gig.
The Oscars take place Feb. 19, 2019.