Seth MacFarlane Asked to Host Oscars Again, According to Anonymous Source

JustJared has this exclusive — it is not sourced from the Academy or from MacFarlane. It’s the kind of thing usually reported by Deadline but not this time.

“After defending his performance, the producers reached out to Seth and invited him back to host the show again,” sources close to the comedian tell JustJared.com exclusively. “He’s not sure if he’s going to do it, but he has to decide within the next couple of weeks.”

Seth previously tweeted that he would not host the Oscars if he were asked to do it again.

MacFarlane, as it says, said no after the wave the controversy that followed the Oscars – charges of sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. As I said in my aftermath post, I hardly noticed any of that. I was too taken aback by the overall sexism, racism and homophobia within the Hollywood, and especially the awards community, itself. Their job is get the ratings up. They succeeded at that – the best since 2007. Many also believe it is their job to uphold the reputation and prestige of the Academy of the Academy Awards. But they’ve tried that and rating dropped. Surely, you think, there must be a compromise. After all, can they credit MacFarlane with the ratings? Or was it the popularity of the stars involved, specifically Jennifer Lawrence and her huge fandom, not to mention the adoration of Ben Affleck and hope that he be rewarded for having been snubbed. There was drama, there was sex, there was conflict, there was Katniss!

Probably anyone could have hosted and they would have gotten a rise in ratings. What does MacFarlane bring, though? The target demo, friends. Those 15 to 35 year-old males who like dirty jokes. He also brings the political/satirical older male demo, the Bill Maher types who might have tuned in to hear him make fun of the whole thing, and again, he didn’t disappoint in that area. I think Hollywood sometimes forgets, amid all of the fan worship, just how much people tend to hate on Hollywood.

My only complaint was his bit about “I saw your breasts.” Of course, he was doing that to make fun of how NOT TO DO THE OSCARS. It was supposed to be an example of how you don’t host. But it didn’t quite go over all that well. For one thing, this isn’t a relaxed, drunken crowd like at the Golden Globes. These are very nervous, uncomfortable people waiting for the cavalcade of humiliation to play out. Poor Ben Affleck looked like he was going to throw up by the end of it and Joaquin Phoenix looked like he was regretting even showing up.

Thus, an inappropriate joke like that needs to play to the crowd, but it didn’t. Was he offensive? Sure. But so? We can’t laugh at ourselves anymore not even a little bit? I’ve seen many Oscar hosts in my life. I still don’t think anyone has beaten Billy Crystal at it. But in a pinch I’ll always take the caustic hosts any day over the smarmy ones. I loved David Letterman, Steve Martin, Jon Stewart, etc. The more cutting they were the better I liked the show. But that’s just me.

What I care more about is what the Academy chooses to win. The host, the show, that matters less I think. It’s entertainment at the end of the day and a way for the Academy to fund itself so that it can continue to do what it does best: film preservation.