Jimmy Kimmel will host 2018 Academy Awards despite Oscargate

• Nick Spake


• 17 May 2017

ABC has announced that Jimmy Kimmel will host the Academy Awards for the second consecutive year, regardless of the Oscargate scandal.

In case you weren’t already aware, Oscargate refers to the Best Picture mix-up at the 89th Academy Awards. La La Land was initially announced as the Best Picture of the year. As the producers were giving their acceptances speeches, however, it was revealed that the winner was actually Moonlight, leading to the most awkward moment in Oscar history.

The mix-up was by no means Kimmel’s fault, who did his best to handle the situation with class and wit. Since the mix-up was such a PR nightmare, however, it was unclear if Kimmel would ever return. Now that the comedian is officially coming back, there’s little doubt that he’ll poke fun at the incident at next year’s ceremony. Kimmel is already building up hype, stating, “If you think we screwed up the ending this year, wait until you see what we have planned for the 90th anniversary show.” He also shared this gem on Twitter:

Also on-board for the 90th Academy Awards are producers Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd. “Jimmy, Mike and Jennifer are truly an Oscar Dream Team,” Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs stated in an announcement. “Mike and Jennifer produced a beautiful show that was visually stunning. And Jimmy proved, from his opening monologue all the way through a finale we could never have imagined, that he is one our finest hosts in Oscar history.”

“It’s not often you get two chances to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience and even more rare to be handed the keys to a party 90 years in the making,” De Luca and Todd said. “We always thought the idea that anything can happen on the Oscars was a cliché until we lived it.”

Kimmel additionally stated, “Hosting the Oscars was a highlight of my career and I am grateful to Cheryl, Dawn and the Academy for asking me to return to work with two of my favorite people, Mike De Luca and Jennifer Todd.”

The 90th Academy Awards will air on March 4, 2018.