While Hollywood wonders who will get the tap to host the 94th Annual Academy Awards, Variety says at least one name that has been bandied about “likely won’t” be behind the podium: Pete Davidson.
The trade does confirm that reps for the Saturday Night Live cast member, and King of Staten Island star have been in touch with the Oscars’ producers, but it’s precisely his link to SNL that would likely leave him out of the running.
Davidson is “too closely linked to NBC,” posits the trade, whereas another interesting choice is already in the Disney/ABC family: Only Murders in the Building stars Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short. Disney is the majority owner of Hulu, on which the comedy streams.
“[T]hey are an iconic trio,” Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment president Craig Erwich previously told Variety.
“They have mass appeal. Everybody loves them. They’d be a dream,” Erwich said, adding the caveat, “That said, there’s a lot of incredible talent we’re considering.”
For the record, at least Short and Martin — who along with Gomez were just nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for their show — are so far not interested.
ABC Audio recently asked Short if he’d be up for the job. “No, not particularly,” he explained, adding of Martin, “That night we are performing in Stamford, Connecticut, actually. We have a show. [Hosting is] not on the table.”
The 94th Annual Academy Awards will air March 27 on ABC.
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