Maybe This Year's Oscars Won't Suck After All

Maybe This Year's Oscars Won't Suck After All

The 2019 Oscars ceremony is what we might call a "mess." No one wanted to host, then Kevin Hart wanted to host, then Kevin Hart was fired for his homophobic tweets, which he only apologized for far too late. Since then, the Academy has struggled to find anyone to take his place, which is terrifying, because it seems to imply that every other comedian also has offensive social media posts they're afraid will come to light.

With no one to steer the three-hour broadcast, things have been looking bleak for Hollywood's night of nights.This week brings hope, though. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are officially slated to perform their A Star Is Born duet "Shallow" live (Cooper is "terrified," which is fair, given Jackson Maine's history with awards show stages), and a first round of celebrity presenters were officially announced this afternoon.

Related | The 2019 Academy Award Nominations

The presenters form a mixed group, but a fun one. Comedy matriarchs Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Maya Rudolph will no doubt roast fellow members of the audience, while Daniel Craig and Chris Evans increase the beefy action hero quota by two. Whoopi Goldberg will be there, thank God. As well as Crazy Rich Asians co-stars Awkwafina and Constance Wu. Jennifer Lopez and Tessa Thompson will both appear, hopefully together, because that's a fun and unexpected pairing. Plus two leading ladies who reliably kill on the red carpet, Brie Larson and Charlize Theron. Amanda Stenberg is repping Young Hollywood.

Aside from Gaga and Bradley, we can expect a bunch of other musical performances to keep things from getting stale, courtesy of the "Best Original Song" category. A "special guest" will perform "The Place Where Lost Things Go" from Mary Poppins Returns, Jennifer Hudson will perform "I'll Fight" from RBG, and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings will perform The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings." SZA and Kendrick will probably perform "All the Stars" from Black Panther, but that isn't confirmed yet.

The 91st Academy Awards ceremony will take place on February 24. And you might not fall asleep!

Photo via Getty

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