Pete Davidson Reportedly Being Considered for Oscar Host

Earlier this week came confirmation from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science that after three years the next Oscars ceremony will go back to having a host. It’s largely unclear who will be taking on the part, with The Academy themselves tweeting yesterday asking fans who should host, but a new report reveals who might be on stage, and it’s not who you’d expect. According to the New York Post’s Page Six, Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson is in talks to host the event with a source telling the outlet “His people are talking to producers.” The potential for Davidson as the host would clearly be yet another attempt by the broadcast to draw in younger viewers, something Page Six corroborates, pointing to the New Year’s Eve special he co-hosted with Miley Cyrus.

“He gets a demographic that is hard to get,” the source reportedly said. “He is in a good space, his career is doing well and he is on the rise. He is a sex symbol, unlikely, but he is big with a certain generation.” As the outlet notes, film producer Will Packer will be producing this year’s telecast, and having worked with Davidson on the 2019 movie What Men Want the rumors have a little bit of credence to them. With the Oscars telecast set to take place in March the window on finding a host is getting shorter and shorter. 

One person that might be sad to hear that Davidson is the target of the new Oscar host search is Spider-Man himself Tom Holland. In a previous interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Holland at first downplayed the idea only to backtrack and throw his hat in the ring as a host candidate

“I’m sitting here going, ‘Of course I would host the f—ing Oscars!’ I just went to the bathroom and I was looking at myself in the mirror and I was like, ‘What kind of f—ing idiot wouldn’t host the Oscars?’ So yeah, if they ask me to, I would, and it would be very fun. I would really enjoy it.”

This year’s Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on March 27th and will be broadcast on ABC. Considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic though it’s unclear what form the ceremony will take, especially after last year’s reduced capacity event.