Academy president John Bailey and Oscar nominee Marianne Farley (writer/director of the Oscar-nominated live-action short film “Marguerite”) at the Oscar Nominee Luncheon held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, on February 4, 2019. (Photo by Phil McCarten/A.M.P.A.S.)
In a move that came after immense backlash and pressure from the film industry and the general public, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has reversed its decision to give out awards for four categories during commercial breaks for the 91st Academy Awards and will instead have the presentation of all Oscar categories during the telecast, as has been the tradition for decades. There are currently 24 competitive categories (categories that require nominations and voting) for the Academy Awards. The 91st Oscar ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on February 24, 2019. ABC will have the U.S. telecast of the ceremony, which will not have a host.
The Academy had announced back in August 2018 that, in order to keep the Oscar telecast limited to three hours, some of the award categories would be dropped from the live telecast, with those categories’ awards and acceptance speeches taking place during commercial breaks. The Academy did not reveal at the time which categories would be dropped or if any part of the winners’ speeches from the dropped categories would be televised. The Academy did say that the list of winners from those dropped categories would be announced later during the show in an abbreviated format.
According to Variety, Academy president John Bailey (who is a former cinematographer) and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson had a meeting on February 14 with top cinematographers and have pledged to air every awards category on the live show. The cinematographers at the meeting, according to Variety, were American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) president Kees van Osstrom and ASC members Hoyte van Hoytema (Oscar nominee for “Dunkirk”), Rachel Morrison (Oscar nominee for “Mudbound”) and Emmanuel Lubezki (Oscar winner for “Gravity,” “Birdman” and “The Revenant”)
The Academy then issued this statement: “The Academy has heard the feedback from its membership regarding the Oscar presentation of four awards – Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short, and Makeup and Hairstyling. All Academy Awards will be presented without edits, in our traditional format. We look forward to Oscar Sunday, February 24.”
After the decision was made to have all Oscar categories remain in the telecast, the ASC released this open letter to the Academy that read in part: “In exploring this issue we have all been reminded of an important distinction: The Academy Awards cannot become just be another televised celebrity showcase. Our prestigious Academy has a higher purpose and must stand apart from other organizations by equally recognizing the most outstanding artists and craftspeople in all categories. We thank you for your show of respect for the hard-working members of the film community, whose dedication and exceptional talents deserve the public recognition this reversal now allows them to enjoy.”
Numerous prominent filmmakers protested the Academy’s decision to present awards during the Oscar telecast’s commercial breaks. These filmmakers included Oscar winners Martin Scorsese, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Damien Chazelle, Quentin Tarantino, Ang Lee, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Russell Crowe, costume designer Sandy Powell and cinematographers Janusz Kaminski and Roger Deakins. Spike Lee, Seth Rogen and Alec Baldwin were some of the other famous names who were part of the protest.
The decision reversal is another public-relations debacle for the Academy, which had also announced in August 2018 that it was adding a “popular films” category, only to abandon the idea a month later after immense backlash and criticism from industry professionals and the general public. The Academy also had another embarrassment in January 2019, when comedian/actor Kevin Hart stepped down from hosting the 2019 Oscar ceremony two days after it was announced that he was hosting the show. Hart quit the job after disagreements with the Academy over making a public apology for homophobic remarks that he made several years ago. After Hart stepped down as Oscar host, he made several public apologies for his past homophobic comments, but said he was not interested in hosting the Oscars this year because of all the controversy.
The producers who are heading the 91st Oscar ceremony telecast are Donna Giglotti (a past Oscar winner for producing 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love) and veteran TV director Glenn Weiss, who is also directing the show, as he has for many years. This is Gigliotti’s first time that she will be producing the Oscar telecast.
Alfonso Cuarón and Yalitza Aparicio on the set of “Roma” (Photo by Carlos Somonte/Netflix)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that categories of Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Live-Action Short will be dropped from the Oscar telecast at the 91st Academy Awards, which will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on February 24, 2019. ABC will have the U.S. telecast of the show, which will not have a host. The Academy announced in August 2018 that, in order to keep the Oscar telecast strictly limited to three hours, the 2019 Oscar ceremony would drop a certain number of categories from the telecast and would instead give the awards during commercial breaks. The winners would then be listed on-screen instead of having their entire acceptance speeches televised.
At the time the Academy announced in August 2018 that it would be dropping a certain number of categories from the Oscar telecast, the Academy did not specify how many and which categories would be dropped but did say that it would not be the same categories that would be dropped every year. Many people assumed that any of the three categories for short films (live-action, animation and documentaries), would be the most likely to be dropped since short films are the least-seen films of the Oscar nominees. The technical categories for sound editing and sound mixing also seemed likely to get dropped from the telecast. Therefore, it was a shock to many industry professionals that cinematography and film editing—which are considered two of the most crucial aspects of filmmaking—were among the dropped categories. Although there has been some criticism for dropping the makeup/hairstyling and live-action shorts categories, most of the criticism is over dropping the categories for cinematography and film editing.
The Academy’s announcement was met with immense backlash from Academy voters, other industry professionals and movie fans, who voiced their opinions on social media and elsewhere. Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, who has several Oscar nominations this year for “Roma,” including for Best Cinematography, tweeted this criticism of the Academy’s decision to drop the Best Cinematography prize from the Oscar telecast: “In the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing.” Cuarón has won Oscars for producing, directing and co-editing the 2013 film “Gravity,” which also won Oscars for cinematography, sound editing, sound mixing, original score and visual effects.
Cuarón is the writer, director, editor and cinematographer of “Roma,” as well as one of the film’s producers. He has already won several prizes as the director, cinematographer and producer of “Roma,” a Spanish-language movie filmed in black and white. “Roma” is tied with “The Favourite” for the most Oscar nominations (10) this year. Oscar nominations for “The Favourite” include those for cinematography and film editing.
Kees van Oostrum, the president of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), issued this statement: “After receiving many comments on this matter from ASC members, I think I speak for many of them in declaring this a most unfortunate decision. We consider filmmaking to be a collaborative effort where the responsibilities of the director, cinematographer, editor and other crafts often intersect. This decision could be perceived as a separation and division of this creative process, thus minimizing our fundamental creative contributions. The Academy is an important institution that represents our artistry in the eyes of the world. Since the organization’s inception 91 years ago, the Academy Awards have honored cinematographers’ talent, craft and contributions to the filmmaking process, but we cannot quietly condone this decision without protest.”
He also told Variety: “The decision can only be seen as a diminution of our contribution. It’s absolutely the wrong message. My phone has been ringing off the hook. It also diminishes the contribution of editors, with whom we collaborate very closely.”
Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”) was among the celebrities, such as Alec Baldwin and Seth Rogen, who condemned the decision. Crowe tweeted in an expletive-peppered statement: “The Academy is removing cinematography, editing and makeup from the televised show? This is just a fundamentally stupid decision, I’m not even going to be bothered to be a smart arse about it. It’s just too fucking dumb for words.”
Meanwhile, several people who are not happy about the dropped categories began posting the hashtag #boycottoscars on social media in addition to expressing their outrage and disgust. Several of the protesters say that tedious monologues, skits and stunts should be dropped from the Oscar telecast instead of dropping important award categories.
The decision to drop these categories is one of several controversies and public-relations missteps by the Academy over the 2019 Oscars. In January 2019, comedian/actor Kevin Hart dropped out of hosting the show because of his past homophobic remarks and disagreements over how he would make a public apology. Less than a month later, the Academy considered having only two of the five Best Original Song nominations performed at the ceremony, which was idea that was swiftly shot down by the nominees, Academy members and the general public. And in August 2018, the Academy announced the addition of a “popular films” category, an idea that was dropped a month later due to immense backlash from the industry and the general public. It didn’t help that when the Academy announced the “popular films” category, it did not explain how films would qualify for that category.
Academy members have made it clear on social media that it is the Academy’s board of directors and branch governors, not the membership as a whole, who have made these decisions without full input from voting membership. Ratings for the Oscars, as well as for almost all major televised award shows, have been on a downward spiral for the past few years. The 2018 Oscar telecast was the lowest-rated in Oscar history so far, with 26.5 million U.S. viewers.
The 91st Oscar ceremony is being produced by Donna Gigliotti and Glenn Weiss, who is also directing the show. It will be the first Oscar ceremony since 1989 to not have a host.
February 13, 2019 UPDATE: According to Deadline, about 99 prominent filmmakers (including Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino and Seth Rogen; Oscar-winning directors Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee and Damien Chazelle; and Oscar-winning cinematographers Roger Deakins, Emmanuel Lubezki and Janusz Kaminski; and Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell) signed an open letter to the Academy vehemently protesting the decision to have four award categories presented during the commercial breaks.
In response, the Academy’s board of governors issued a statement that appears to backtrack from the Academy’s previous hints that the winners’ speeches in those categories would not be televised. The statement clarifies that the speeches will be televised, but the speeches will be shown later in the Oscar telecast. What the statement does not say is if or how much the speeches will be edited. Considering that reducing the ceremony’s running time was the main reason from not having these four categories presented in the same manner as the other categories, it’s likely that the speeches that happen during the commercial breaks will be heavily edited.
Here is the statement from the Academy:
“We’d like to restate and explain the plans for presenting the awards, as endorsed by the Academy’s Board of Governors.”
· All 24 Award categories are presented on stage in the Dolby Theatre, and included in the broadcast.· Four categories – Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Live Action Short – were volunteered by their branches to have their nominees and winners announced by presenters, and included later in the broadcast. Time spent walking to the stage and off, will be edited out.
· The four winning speeches will be included in the broadcast.
· In future years, four to six different categories may be selected for rotation, in collaboration with the show producers. This year’s categories will be exempted in 2020.
· This change in the show was discussed and agreed to by the Board of Governors in August, with the full support of the branch executive committees.
Such decisions are fully deliberated. Our show producers have given great consideration to both Oscar tradition and our broad global audience.We sincerely believe you will be pleased with the show, and look forward to celebrating a great year in movies with all Academy members and with the rest of the world.
John Bailey, President Lois Burwell, First Vice President Sid Ganis, Vice President Larry Karaszewski, Vice President Nancy Utley, Vice President Jim Gianopulos, Treasurer David Rubin, Secretary
February 15, 2019 UPDATE: The Academy has reversed its decision, and the Oscar ceremony will go back to fully televising all of the award categories. Click here for the full story.
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga at the 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 6, 2019. (Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBC)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced several entertainers who will be performers and presenters at the 91st Annual Academy Awards ceremony, which will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. ABC will have the U.S. telecast of the show, which will not have a host. As previously reported, comedian/actor Kevin Hart was going to host the show, but he backed out after the show’s producers demanded that he make a public apology for homophobic remarks that he made several years ago. After getting a firestorm of backlash for the homophobic remarks, Hart later made several public apologies but remained adamant that he would still not host the Oscars this year.
The celebrities who will be on stage at the Oscars this year are several of those whose songs are nominated for Best Original Song. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper will perform their duet “Shallow” from their movie remake of “A Star Is Born.” Jennifer Hudson will perform “I’ll Fight” from the Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary “RBG.” David Rawlings and Gillian Welch will team up for the duet “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from the Western film “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.” It has not yet been announced who will perform “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from the Disney musical sequel “Mary Poppins Returns.”** It also hasn’t been announced yet if Kendrick Lamar and SZA will take the stage for “All the Stars” from the superhero flick “Black Panther.”
Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Philharmonic do the music for the “In Memoriam” segment, which spotlights notable people in the film industry who have died in the year since the previous Oscar ceremony.
Meanwhile, the following celebrities have been announced as presenters at the ceremony: Whoopi Goldberg (who has hosted the Oscars twice in the past), Awkwafina, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Tina Fey, Jennifer Lopez, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amandla Stenberg, Tessa Thompson Constance Wu, Javier Bardem, Angela Bassett, Chadwick Boseman, Emilia Clarke, Laura Dern, Samuel L. Jackson, Stephan James, Keegan-Michael Key, KiKi Layne, James McAvoy, Melissa McCarthy, Jason Momoa and Sarah Paulson. Goldberg and Bardem are previous Oscar winners.
Other previous Oscar winners taking the stage will be Gary Oldman, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney, who won the actor and actress prizes at the 2018 Academy Awards.
Donna Gigliotti (who won an Oscar for Best Picture for 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love) and Emmy-winning director Glenn Weiss are the producers of the 2019 Academy Awards. This will be the first time that Gigliotti is producing the Oscar ceremony. Weiss has directed several major award shows, including the Oscars and the Tonys. He will direct the Oscar ceremony again in 2019.
**February 18, 2019 UPDATE: Bette Midler will perform “The Place Where Los Things Go,” the Oscar-nominated song from “Mary Poppins Returns.” British rock band Queen, whose official biopic is the Oscar-nominated film “Bohemian Rhapsody,” will also perform on the show with lead singer Adam Lambert. It has not been revealed which song(s) Queen will perform at the Oscars.
February 19, 2019 UPDATE: These presenters have been added to the Oscar telecast: Elsie Fisher, Danai Gurira, Brian Tyree Henry, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Keaton, Helen Mirren, John Mulaney, Tyler Perry, Pharrell Williams, Krysten Ritter, Paul Rudd and Michelle Yeoh.
February 21, 2019 UPDATE: These celebrities will present the Best Picture nominees: José Andrés, Dana Carvey, Queen Latifah, Congressman John Lewis, Diego Luna, Tom Morello, Mike Myers, Trevor Noah, Amandla Stenberg, Barbra Streisand and Serena Williams.
Yalitza Aparicio in “Roma” (Photo by Alfonso Cuarón)Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman in “The Favourite” (Photo by Yorgos Lanthimos)
With 10 nominations each, including Best Picture, the Spanish-language drama “Roma” and the British dark comedy “The Favourite” are the leading nominees for the 91st Academy Awards, which will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on February 24, 2019. There is no host for the show, following the controversy over Kevin Hart quitting the job over his past homophobic remarks, as well as disagreements over his public apologies for those remarks. ABC will have the U.S. telecast of the Academy Awards ceremony, which is presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Actor/screenwriter Kumail Nanjiani and actress Tracee Ellis Ross announced the nominations on January 22 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California.
Netflix’s “Roma” is inspired by filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón’s childhood in early 1970s Mexico, as seen through the perspective of his family’s nanny/housekeeper. Fox Searchlight’s “The Favourite,” set in the early 1700s, tells the story of Great Britain’s Queen Anne and two women who compete for her affections.
As of 2010, the Academy can nominate up to 10 movies for Best Picture. This year, there are only eight movies that made the list: In addition to “Roma” and “The Favourite,” the other Best Picture contenders are “BlacKkKlansman,” “Black Panther,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Green Book,” “A Star Is Born” and “Vice.” Of those contenders, “A Star is Born” and “Vice” have eight nominations each; “Black Panther” scored seven nods; “BlacKkKlansman” has six nominations; and “Green Book” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” received five nods each.
In the categories for actors, actresses and directors, most of the contenders are those who have been the same nominees or winners at other award shows leading up to the Oscars. However, there were some nominations that were not widely predicted.
Snubs and Surprises
Bradley Cooper (pictured at left) on the set of “A Star Is Born” (Photo by Clay Enos)
The Oscars can always be counted on to have some nominations that are very different from the other major movie awards. The biggest snub was Bradley Cooper of “A Star Is Born” being shut out of the Best Director category, even though he was nominated for that prize at just about every other award show where movies from major studios are eligible. (Cooper’s 2018 remake of “A Star Is Born” was released by Warner Bros. Pictures.) Cooper, who made his directorial debut with “A Star Is Born,” still received three Oscar nominations for the movie: Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay. (He’s also one of the movie’s producers and screenwriters.)
The biggest surprises were the nominations for the two main actresses from “Roma”: Yalitza Aparicio (for Best Actress) and Marina de Tavira (for Best Supporting Actress). Aparicio, who made her film debut in “Roma,” got very little recognition on the awards circuit leading up to the Oscars: She picked up a Critics’ Choice nomination and won a Hollywood Film Award for her role in the movie, but she was passed over for nominations at just about all the other movie award shows. Meanwhile, de Tavira was completely shut out of being nominated at all other major U.S.-based movie award shows until the Oscars.
Another big surprise was Paweł Pawlikowski getting a Best Director nomination for his Polish-language “Cold War,” which is, just like “Roma,” a period movie filmed in black-and-white in a non-English language and distributed by a streaming service. (Amazon is distributing “Cold War.”) Pawlikowski’s nomination for Best Director was also unusual because it’s rare for someone to get an Oscar nomination for Best Director for a movie that is not nominated for Best Picture. In addition to Pawlikowski, the other Best Director nominees are Spike Lee for “BlacKkKlansman”; Yorgos Lanthimos for “The Favourite”; Alfonso Cuarón for “Roma”; and Adam McKay for “Vice.” “Cold War” had been widely predicted to get Oscar nominations for Best Foreign-Language Film and Best Cinematography, and the movie did get those nods, but it’s got stiff competition from “Roma” in all of those categories.
Amazon Studios’ robust awards campaign for Timothée Chalamet and his supporting role in the drug-addiction drama “Beautiful Boy” seemed to be paying off, since he was getting nominated at several award shows, but Chalamet and “Beautiful Boy” were ultimately shut out of the Oscar race. And so was another buzzworthy “based on a true story” drama about a troubled teenage son: Focus Features’ “Boy Erased,” starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe as a family affected by the controversial practices of gay-conversion therapy.
Ethan Hawke in “First Reformed” (Photo courtesy of A24)
Ethan Hawke won the majority of critics’ awards for Best Actor for his role in A24’s “First Reformed,” but he was shut out of the Oscar race for the movie. Although he was a critics’ darling, Hawke did very little awards campaigning for the movie, which probably hurt his chances of being nominated for an Oscar. (He was also snubbed this year by the Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globe Awards.) Instead, the only Oscar nomination for writer/director Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed” was Best Original Screenplay.
Horror movies are typically overlooked by the Academy Awards (2017’s “Get Out” was one of the few exceptions), and this year continued that snubbing pattern, with critically acclaimed “A Quiet Place”from Paramount Pictures getting just one nomination (Best Sound Editing) and A24’s “Hereditary” (which had its share of passionate fans and detractors) getting completely shut out of the race.
It hasn’t been a good Oscar year for independent film distributor A24, which previously scored Oscar gold for 2016’s “Moonlight,” winner of the prizes for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. A24 lost some of its Oscar momentum for its movies released in 2017: “Lady Bird” received five Oscar nominations but no Oscar wins, while the Oscar campaign for “The Disaster Artist” imploded when the movie’s star/director James Franco was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women during the final week of Oscar nomination voting. Franco was snubbed by the Academy for “The Disaster Artist,” and the movie ended up with only one Oscar nomination: Best Adapted Screenplay, for writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. This year, A24’s “Hereditary” and the critically acclaimed teen comedy “Eighth Grade” were completely shut out for Oscar nominations, while A24’s only Oscar nod for a 2018 movie was for the previously mentioned Best Original Screenplay nomination for “First Reformed.”
As streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu continue to increase their clout in the movie industry, traditional independent studios are struggling to keep up with getting hit movies and major awards. A24 isn’t the only independent studio whose awards influence has faded for movies released in 2018. Neon hit a home run in its first year in business with 2017’s “I, Tonya,” which scooped up several major awards (including an Oscar) for Allison Janney’s supporting performance. However, Neon’s 2018 movies have mostly been passed over for winning awards: The Natalie Portman music-oriented drama “Vox Lux” and the documentary “Three Identical Strangers” were Neon’s biggest awards hopefuls of the year, but those two films have been completely shut out of Oscar nominations. Neon’s only Oscar nod for a 2018 film is Best Makeup and Hairstyling for the troll movie “Border,” which has tough competition with category frontrunner “Vice.”
Emily Blunt in “Mary Poppins Returns” (Photo by Jay Maidment/Disney Enterprises, Inc.)
Disney’s musical sequel “Mary Poppins Returns” didn’t get Oscar nominations for Best Picture, lead actress Emily Blunt and supporting actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, but the movie got expected nominations for Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score and Best Original Song.
Universal Pictures’ “First Man,” which depicts astronaut Neil Armstrong’s journey to being the first man on the moon, started out strong after getting rave reviews at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, but Oscar buzz for “First Man” (starring Ryan Gosling as Armstrong) considerably faded after the movie fizzled at the box office and got snubbed in most of the major categories at several award shows. Best Original Score was the only category for which “First Man” was winning the most awards leading up to the Oscars. The prizes for “First Man” composer Justin Hurwitz included a Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award. Therefore, it was surprising that he didn’t get an Oscar nomination in this category. “First Man” did receive four Oscar nods, but only in technical categories: Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. “First Man” was director Damien Chazelle’s follow-up to his award-winning hit “La La Land” (which won six Oscars, including Best Director), so “First Man” getting snubbed in the biggest Oscar categories is a big step down for Chazelle.
Focus Features’ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” the Fred Rogers biography directed by Morgan Neville, was widely predicted as the frontrunner for Best Documentary Feature because the movie had been winning most of the documentary awards up until this point, but the movie failed to get an Oscar nomination. Instead, “Of Fathers and Sons,” a movie about a radical Islamist family, received a surprise Oscar nomination, after being passed over for nominations at every other major award show that gives prizes to documentary feature films. So why the Oscar snub for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” The Academy tends to reward documentaries that have a great deal of original footage (in other words, not relying too heavily on archived footage), and the Academy voters prefer investigative documentaries that uncover a lot of information that was not widely known to the general public. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” was undoubtedly a feel-good popular movie, but perhaps Academy voters considered it to be too much of a safe and conventional documentary where the filmmakers didn’t challenge themselves enough, beyond collecting archived footage and getting authorized interviews with Rogers’ family and colleagues.
Despite all the hoopla over the romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians,” the movie was completely shut out of the Oscar race. Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Crazy Rich Asians,” which was a big international hit, was the first major Hollywood studio movie to have an all-Asian cast since 1993’s “The Joy Luck Club.” “Crazy Rich Asians” got mostly positive reviews from critics, but the movie’s formulaic plot with over-used clichés seem to have severely hurt its chances of being taken seriously by Oscar voters.
In other categories, surprises included the German film “Never Look Away” (distributed in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics) getting nominations for Best Foreign-Language Film and Best Cinematography after being passed over for those nominations at almost all of the other movie award shows. The Academy rewarded “Never Look Away” with Oscar nominations, but snubbed South Korea’s “Burning” for Best Foreign-Language Film and “Black Panther” for Best Cinematography, even though “Burning” and “Black Panther” scored those nominations at several other award shows.
Diversity Issues
Lupita Nyong’o, Chadwick Boseman and Danai Gurira in “Black Panther” (Photo courtesy of Disney/Marvel Studios)
Ever since the #OscarsSoWhite backlash of 2015 and 2016, the Academy has been under intense scrutiny over diversity issues when it comes to race and gender. (Most of the Academy members and Oscar nominees are white males.) The Academy has made public efforts to invite more women and people of color into its membership in recent years. There has been a little more diversity, in terms of who gets nominated for Oscars, but there is still a long way to go for most of the behind-the-scenes technical categories, such as editing, visual effects, original score and cinematography. The good news for Oscar diversity in 2019 is that there is at least one person of color nominated in each of the four acting categories. In addition, several women and people of color are nominated in the category of Best Picture, an award that goes to a film’s producer(s). They are Jordan Peele and Spike Lee (African-American males) for “BlacKkKlansman”; and Ceci Dempsey and Lee Magiday (white females) for “The Favourite”; Gabriela Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón (Latinos) for “Roma”; Lynette Howell Taylor (white female) for “A Star Is Born”; and Dede Gardner (white female) for “Vice.”
In other gender-neutral Oscar categories, women did not make much progress, compared to the 2018 Academy Awards. In 2019, there were no women nominated in the Oscar categories of Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score. (In 2018, the categories of Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing each had one female nominee, while Best Original Score continued to have only male nominees.) And in the categories of Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, only one woman was nominated in each category in 2019, and they share the nomination with a man.
The categories for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling have traditionally been dominated by women. All of this year’s nominees for Best Costume Design are female, while women are 62.5 percent of this year’s Best Makeup and Hairstyling nominees. The gender-neutral categories that have the most gender parity this year are Best Production Design, Best Original Song and Best Documentary Feature, where women are almost half of the nominees in each category.
Hannah Beachler of “Black Panther” became the first African-American to get an Oscar nomination for Best Production Design. African-Americans earned other rare nominations in categories that are typically dominated by white/Caucasian filmmakers: “BlacKkKlansman” had the most nominations this year for black filmmakers: Spike Lee earned three nods as a director, producer and screenwriter, while producer Jordan Peele, screenwriter Kevin Willmott and composer Terence Blanchard were also nominated for the movie. “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” co-director Peter Ramsey is among the nominees for Best Animated Feature; costume designer Ruth E. Carter is a contender for “Black Panther”; and Barry Jenkins of “If Beale Street Could Talk” is up for Best Adapted Screenplay, an Oscar that he won for 2016’s “Moonlight,” making him only the third black person to win an Oscar in that category. Other black Oscar nominees this year are Kendrick Lamar, Solana Rowe (also known as SZA), Mark Spears and Anthony Tiffith, who all co-wrote Best Original Song nominee “All the Stars” from “Black Panther.”
“Roma” was the movie that gave Latinos the most representation at this year’s Academy Awards, and “Roma” is expected to win multiple Oscars. In addition to Cuarón and actresses Aparicio and de Tavira, other “Roma” Oscar nominees are producer Gabriela Rodríguez (Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film); Sergio Diaz (Best Sound Editing); José Antonio García (Best Sound Mixing);and Eugenio Caballero and Bárbara Enríquez (Best Production Design), It’s also worth noting that three Mexican directors (Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro) have won several of the Best Director awards in the 2010s decade. Cuarón, who is the frontrunner to win for “Roma,” previously won the Best Director prize for 2013’s “Gravity”; Iñárritu won for 2014’s “Birdman” and 2015’s “The Revenant”‘; and del Toro won for 2017’s “The Shape of Water.”
Even though “Crazy Rich Asians” didn’t get any Oscar nominations, that doesn’t mean that Asians were completely snubbed by the Academy this year. Asians who received Oscar nominations include cinematographer Matthew Libatique for “A Star Is Born”; director Mamoru Hosoda and producer Yuichiro Saito for the animated film “Mirai”; director Hirokazu Kore-eda, who scored a Best Foreign-Language Film nod for Japan’s “Shoplifters”; and director Bobby Pontillas, who earned a Best Animated Short nomination for co-directing “One Small Step.” The category of Best Documentary Feature had the highest Asian representation, with directors/producers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi for “Free Solo”; director/producer Bing Liu and producer Diane Quon for “Minding the Gap”; director Talal Derki (who is of Syrian/Middle Eastern descent) for “Of Fathers and Sons”; and producer Su Kim for “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”
Notable Milestones
Alfonso Cuarón and Yalitza Aparicio on the set of “Roma” (Photo by Carlos Somonte/Netflix)
The 2019 Oscar race has several milestones. “Roma” is the first Netflix movie to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, although it’s not the first streaming service to score a nomination in that category. That milestone was achieved by Amazon’s 2016 drama “Manchester by the Sea,” which went on to win Best Actor (for Casey Affleck) and Best Original Screenplay (for Kenneth Lonergan). Netflix won its first Oscar for the 2017 documentary feature film “Icarus.” If “Roma” wins Best Picture, it will be not only be the first movie from a streaming service to win Best Picture at the Oscars, but also the first non-English-language movie to win the prize.
As widely predicted, Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” was nominated for Best Picture, making it the first superhero movie to be nominated in this Oscar category. However, with no Oscar nominations in the categories for acting, directing or screenplay, “Black Panther” is a long shot to win Best Picture. The other Oscar nominations for “Black Panther” are for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score and Best Original Song.
“BlacKkKlansman” filmmaker Spike Lee, who has been making critically acclaimed movies since the 1980s, received his first Oscar nomination for Best Director, after being passed over in that category for decades. Lee, who is one of the producers and screenwriters of Focus Features’ “BlacKkKlansman,” also picked up nominations for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, which are also his first Oscar nominations in those categories. He was previously nominated for Best Original Screenplay for 1989’s “Do the Right Thing” and Best Documentary Feature for 1997’s “4 Little Girls.” Lee also received an honorary Oscar (a non-competitive prize) in 2015.
Spike Lee and Adam Driver on the set of “BlacKkKlansman” (Photo by David Lee/ Focus Features)
Here is the complete list of nominations for the 2019 Academy Awards:
Best Picture
“Black Panther”
(Producer: Kevin Feige)
“BlacKkKlansman”
(Producers: Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee)
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
(Producer: Graham King)
“The Favourite”
(Producers: Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos)
“Green Book”
(Producers: Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga)
“Roma”
(Producers: Gabriela Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón)
“A Star Is Born”
(Producers: Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor)
“Vice”
(Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay and Kevin Messick)
Best Actor
Christian Bale, “Vice”
Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”
Willem Dafoe, “At Eternity’s Gate”
Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”
Best Actress
Yalitza Aparicio, “Roma”
Glenn Close, “The Wife”
Olivia Colman, “The Favourite”
Lady Gaga, “A Star Is Born”
Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”
Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”
Sam Elliott, “A Star Is Born”
Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Sam Rockwell, “Vice”
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “Vice”
Marina de Tavira, “Roma”
Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Emma Stone, “The Favourite”
Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite”
Best Director
Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”
Paweł Pawlikowski, “Cold War”
Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Favourite”
Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma”
Adam McKay, “Vice”
Best Animated Feature
“Incredibles 2,” directed by Brad Bird; produced by John Walker and Nicole Paradis Grindle
“Isle of Dogs,” directed and produced by Wes Anderson; produced by Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
“Mirai,” directed by Mamoru Hosoda; produced by Yuichiro Saito
“Ralph Breaks the Internet,” directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston; produced by Clark Spencer
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman; produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Best Animated Short
“Animal Behaviour,” directed and produced by Alison Snowden and David Fine
“Bao,” directed by Domee Shi; produced by Becky Neiman-Cobb
“Late Afternoon,” directed by Louise Bagnall; produced by Nuria González Blanco
“One Small Step,” directed by Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas
“Weekends,” directed and produced by Trevor Jimenez
Best Adapted Screenplay
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
“BlacKkKlansman,” Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
“If Beale Street Could Talk,” Barry Jenkins
“A Star Is Born,” Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters
Best Original Screenplay
“The Favourite,” Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
“First Reformed,” Paul Schrader
“Green Book,” Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly
“Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón
“Vice,” Adam McKay
Best Cinematography
“Cold War,” Łukasz Żal
“The Favourite,” Robbie Ryan
“Never Look Away,” Caleb Deschanel
“Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón
“A Star Is Born,” Matthew Libatique
Best Documentary Feature
“Free Solo,” directed and produced by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyil; produced by Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill
“Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” directed and produced by RaMell Ross; produced by Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim
“Minding the Gap,” directed and produced by Bing Liu; produced by Diane Quon
“Of Fathers and Sons,” directed by Talal Derki; produced by Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tobias N. Siebert
“RBG,” directed and produced by Betsy West and Julie Cohen
Best Documentary Short Subject
“Black Sheep,” directed by Ed Perkins; produced by Jonathan Chinn
“End Game,” directed and produced by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
“Lifeboat,” directed and produced by Skye Fitzgerald
“A Night at the Garden,” directed and produced by Marshall Curry
“Period. End of Sentence.,” directed and produced by Rayka Zehtabchi
Best Live Action Short Film
“Detainment,” directed and produced by Vincent Lambe; produced by Darren Mahon
“Fauve,” directed by Jeremy Comte; produced by Maria Gracia Turgeon
“Marguerite,” directed by Marianne Farley; produced by Marie-Hélène Panisset
“Mother,” directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen; produced by María del Puy Alvarado
“Skin,” directed and produced by Guy Nattiv; produced by Jaime Ray Newman
Best Foreign Language Film
“Capernaum” (Lebanon)
“Cold War” (Poland)
“Never Look Away” (Germany)
“Roma” (Mexico)
“Shoplifters” (Japan)
Best Film Editing
“BlacKkKlansman,” Barry Alexander Brown
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” John Ottman
“Green Book,” Patrick J. Don Vito
“The Favourite,” Yorgos Mavropsaridis
“Vice,” Hank Corwin
Best Sound Editing
“Black Panther,” Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” John Warhurst
“First Man,” Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
“A Quiet Place,” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“Roma,” Sergio Diaz and Skip Lievsay
Best Sound Mixing
“Black Panther,” Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali
“First Man,” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis
“Roma,” Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio García
“A Star Is Born,” Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve Morrow
Best Production Design
“Black Panther”
Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart
“The Favourite”
Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton
“First Man”
Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas
“Mary Poppins Returns”
Production Design: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Roma”
Production Design: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Bárbara Enríquez
Best Original Score
“BlacKkKlansman,” Terence Blanchard
“Black Panther,” Ludwig Goransson
“If Beale Street Could Talk,” Nicholas Britell
“Isle of Dogs,” Alexandre Desplat
“Mary Poppins Returns,” Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
Best Original Song
“All the Stars” from “Black Panther,” song written by Kendrick Lamar, Solana Rowe (SZA), Mark Spears and Anthony Tiffith
“I’ll Fight” from “RBG,” song written by Diane Warren
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns,” song written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
“Shallow” from “A Star Is Born,” song written by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt and Benjamin Rice
“When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” song written by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“Border,” Göran Lundström and Pamela Goldammer
“Mary Queen of Scots,” Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks
“Vice,” Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia DeHaney
Best Costume Design
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” Mary Zophres
“Black Panther,” Ruth E. Carter
“The Favourite,” Sandy Powell
“Mary Poppins Returns,” Sandy Powell
“Mary Queen of Scots,” Alexandra Byrne
Best Visual Effects
“Avengers: Infinity War,” Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick
“Christopher Robin,” Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould
“First Man,” Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm
“Ready Player One,” Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk
“Solo: A Star Wars Story,” Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy
Watching a New Year’s Eve special on TV is a tradition for millions of people around the world. After taking a break from a New Year’s Eve Special in 2017, NBC is back with its star-studded party in New York City’s Times Square. Here’s what is planned for the four biggest New Year’s TV specials in the United States:
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019
Ryan Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy (Photo by Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC)
Celebrating its 47th year, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” (which is produced by Dick Clark Productions and airs in the U.S. on ABC) is still the most high-profile televised New Year’s Eve event. Mariah Carey headlined the show from New York City’s Times Square in 2018 and 2017. In 2018, another Grammy-winning diva—Christina Aguilera—is taking the headlining spot. Ryan Seacrest will once again host the show, which begins airing from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, followed by 11:30 p.m. to 2:13 a.m. ET. Jenny McCarthy will provide on-site reporting. Other performers in Times Square include Bastille, Dan + Shay and New Kids on the Block. Airing just after midnight Eastern Time, Post Malone will perform from a stop on his current tour in Brooklyn, New York, marking the first television performance of the new year. Meanwhile, the special has partnered with YouTube Music for the first time this year for cross-promotional programming.
Ciara will once again host the Los Angeles segments of the show that will feature performances that were mostly previously recorded. Artists in the show’s Los Angeles segments will include Lauren Alaina, Kelsea Ballerini, Bazzi, Kane Brown, Camila Cabello, The Chainsmokers, Ciara, Foster the People, Halsey, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth and Weezer, as well as collaborations from Brown featuring Alaina; Macklemore with Skylar Grey; and The Chainsmokers featuring Ballerini.
Meanwhile, actress Lucy Hale (former star of “Pretty Little Liars”) will host the show’s second annual Central Time Zone celebration from New Orleans. Florida Georgia Line and Maren Morris will perform from the Allstate Fan Fest, leading up to the midnight countdown and fleur-de-lis drop near Jackson Square. “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019” is produced by Dick Clark Productions with Seacrest, Barry Adelman and Mark Bracco serving as executive producers. Larry Klein is producer.
Fox’s New Year’s Eve With Steve Harvey: Live From Times Square
Steve Harvey (Photo by Brian Bowen Smith/Fox)
After televising its New Year’s Eve show (hosted by Pitbull) in Miami from 2014 to 2016, Fox changed locations and hosts in 2017, with the show now taking place at New York City’s Times Square with comedian/talk-show host Steve Harvey and former E! News personality Maria Menounous. This year, Harvey and Menounous return to co-host the show, which airs on Fox from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. ET live; CT/MT/PT tape-delayed. Performers will include Sting, Snoop Dogg, Robin Thicke, Florence + the Machine, Jason Aldean, Juanes and Why Don’t We. Additionally, the special will include celebrity cameo appearances by comedians Ken Jeong and Kenan Thompson, as well as “Fox NFL Sunday” commentators Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan and Jimmy Johnson. “Fox’s New Year’s Eve With Steve Harvey: Live From Times Square” is produced by IMG Original Content and Done + Dusted. Guy Carrington, Katy Mullan, Mike Antinoro, Dave Chamberlin and Orly Anderson serve as executive producers; and Eddie Delbridge serves as co-executive producer. IMG also produces Harvey’s self-titled talk show, as well as the Miss Universe Pageant and “It’s Showtime at the Apollo,” which have been hosted by Harvey over the past several years.
[December 30, 2018 UPDATE: Dierks Bentley has been added to the lineup performing in Times Square.]
NBC’s New Year’s Eve
(Photo courtesy of NBCUniversal)
Stars from NBC’s “The Voice” are all over “NBC’s New Year’s Eve” special, which begins airing at 10 p.m. ET from New York City’s Times Square. Not only is “The Voice” host Carson Daly hosting the New Year’s Eve show (with Chrissy Teigen and assistance from Leslie Jones), but “The Voice” coaches Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton and John Legend are also performing on the special. Other performers include Jennifer Lopez, Bebe Rexha, Diana Ross and Andy Grammer. Keith Urban and Brett Young will perform at Jack Daniel’s Music City Midnight: New Year’s Eve in Nashville. “NBC Nightly News” and “Dateline NBC” anchor Lester Holt will also appear on stage before the iconic ball drop. “NBC’s New Year’s Eve” will be televised from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, followed by the New Year’s countdown segment 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. ET. “NBC’s New Year’s Eve” is executive produced by Daly, Teigen and John Irwin through NBCUniversal Television Studio and Irwin Entertainment. It is co-executive produced by Casey Spira.
New Year’s Eve Live With Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen
Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper (Photo courtesy of CNN)
For the second year in a row, longtime friends Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen will co-host CNN’s New Year’s Eve celebration, which begins at 8 p.m. ET. CNN’s 11th annual New Year’s Eve Show, which is telecast live from New York City’s Times Square has a more star-studded lineup this year than in previous years. Gwen Stefani is scheduled to perform from her Las Vegas residency, while Keith Urban (who also appears on NBC’s New Year’s Eve Special), Dave Chappelle, Patti LaBelle and Jack Black also round out the show’s celebrity lineup. New Year’s Eve Live With Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen will also spotlight Broadway musicals such as “The Band’s Visit,” “Wicked,” “Tootsie” and “Come From Away.” CNN’s New Year’s Eve Show begins at 8 p.m. ET, and will end at approximately 1:05 p.m. ET. CNN anchors Don Lemon and Brooke Baldwin will host a countdown from New Orleans at 12:30 a.m. ET.In 2017, Cohen replaced Kathy Griffin, who was notoriously fired from the show in May of that year for publicly posting a photo of herself holding up a fake bloody head of President Donald Trump. Griffin and Cooper had co-hosted CNN’s New Year’s Eve Show since 2007, but the Cooper/Cohen duo brought in the show’s highest ratings so far. Cooper and Cohen have an established rapport, since they have done numerous speaking engagements together.
The following is a press release from Dick Clark Productions and ABC:
Dick Clark Productions and ABC today announced one of the world’s best-selling pop music icons, Christina Aguilera will perform for a live audience of more than one million people, just minutes before the ball drops on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019.” Aguilera last performed on the show in 2007, and this year she will be joined by Bastille, Dan + Shay and New Kids On The Block in the hours leading up to the 2019 countdown. This marks multiplatinum artists Dan + Shay’s first appearance on the show and Bastille’s second, while pop super group New Kids On The Block will take the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve stage for the second time – having last performed in 2011 with Backstreet Boys. America’s biggest celebration of the year will take place on MONDAY, DECEMBER 31 beginning at 8:00 p.m. EST on the ABC Television Network.
Ranked as the #1 music special of last year, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019” marks the 47th anniversary of America’s biggest celebration of the year and will include 5 ½ hours of special performances and reports on New Year’s celebrations from around the globe. Ryan Seacrest will host the primetime festivities and lead the traditional countdown to midnight from Times Square in New York City, as he has for the last 13 years, with live onsite reporting from actress and comedian Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg. Multi-platinum music superstar Ciara will ring in the New Year from the West Coast as the host of the Hollywood Party, joined by performances from Lauren Alaina, Kelsea Ballerini, Bazzi, Kane Brown, Camila Cabello, The Chainsmokers, Ciara, Foster the People, Halsey, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth and Weezer, as well as collaborations from Kane Brown featuring Lauren Alaina, Macklemore with Skylar Grey presented by Planet Fitness and The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini. Airing just after midnight, Post Malone will perform from a stop on his current tour in Brooklyn, New York, marking the first television performance of the New Year. Award-winning actress Lucy Hale will return to host the 3rd annual Central Time Zone celebration from New Orleans, providing viewers with exclusive performances and celebrity and fan interviews leading up to the midnight countdown and stunning fleur-de-lis drop near Jackson Square at the dawn of the New Year. Florida Georgia Line and Maren Morris will perform live from the Allstate® Fan Fest in New Orleans, where locals and tourists gather each year to celebrate the New Year in advance of the annual Allstate® Sugar Bowl®.
“We have an incredible lineup in store for Times Square and are thrilled to welcome Christina back as our headliner for the first time since 2007,” said Mark Bracco, Executive Producer and Executive Vice President of Programming & Development, dick clark productions. “As one of the greatest voices in pop music, Christina’s performance right before the ball drops is sure to end 2018 with a bang!”
“‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest’ always boasts the most iconic musical acts, and this year is no different,” said Rob Mills, Senior Vice President, Alternative Series, Specials and Late Night, ABC. “Christina’s out of this world talent, combined with the powerhouse strength of Bastille, Dan + Shay and New Kids on The Block, will leave 2018 ending on a high note.”
Bastille members Dan Smith, Kyle Simmons, Chris ‘Woody’ Wood and Will Farquarson (Photo by James Gillham/Netflix)
Hailed by Rolling Stone as “Britpop’s new crown princes,” Bastille was introduced internationally with the single “Pompeii,” which is now 6x Platinum in the U.S. alone. “Pompeii” and subsequent hits “Good Grief” (2016) and “Quarter Past Midnight” (2018) each topped the Mediabase Alternative chart in the States. Marshmello and Bastille’s hit single, “Happier,” has topped charts around the world, with one billion cumulative streams. Certified Platinum in the U.S., “Happier” held the No. 1 position for four weeks on Billboard’s Pop Songs airplay chart. It also recently topped Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs chart and Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart. Cumulative streams across all platforms exceed three billion. The Grammy-nominated band – comprising Dan Smith, keyboardist Kyle Simmons, bassist/guitarist Will Farquarson, and drummer Chris Wood – has sold upwards of 15 million adjusted singles and six million adjusted albums. Last year, Bastille moved into the world of film soundtracks, contributing “World Gone Mad” to the Netflix film “Bright.” Starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, the film is one of the site’s most streamed programs ever. Bastille will kick off 2019 with a sold-out U.K. and European tour.
Christina Aguilera at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 20, 2018. (Photo by Todd Williamson/NBC)
Christina Aguilera is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter renowned for her powerful voice and hit songs. Throughout her career, she has sold more than 43 million records worldwide. Aguilera has achieved five No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart making her the fourth female artist to top the chart over three consecutive decades (1990s, 2000s, and 2010s). She has won six Grammy Awards including one Latin Grammy Award. She has also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and holds the prestigious honor of being the only artist under the age of 30 included in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. In 2011 she entered the world of television as a coach on NBC’s Emmy Award nominated show The Voice. Aguilera continues to use her voice for good. She has served as global spokesperson for Yum! Brands’ World Hunger Relief effort since 2009 and has helped raise over $150 million for the World Food Program and other hunger relief agencies.
Dan + Shay
Grammy-nominated duo Dan + Shay debuted atop Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with their self-titled third studio album the same week that its lead single “Tequila” reached No.1 on Billboard’sCountry Airplay chart, marking the first time since 2009 that a duo or group debuted atop Top Country Albums during the same frame that its single hit No. 1 on Country Airplay. The project’s achievements include the highest debut-week stream-total of any new country release in 2018 and the only country album released this year to have all 11 tracks hit Nielsen’s Country On-Demand Streaming chart, including the Gold-certified current single “Speechless.” The romantic tune was most-added at country radio upon impact and, as it nears Top 5, has already earned more than 142 million streams. “Speechless” follows the Platinum-certified global smash “Tequila,” written by Smyers, Jordan Reynolds and Nicolle Galyon, which became their first multi-week country radio No. 1 and is currently nominated for the Grammy Awards’ “Best Country Duo/Group Performance” and “Best Country Song.” The track has accumulated a staggering 325+ million on-demand streams, making it the most-streamed country song released in 2018. They’ve performed it on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “Ellen,” the CMA Festconcert special, the 53rd ACM Awards, “Today”Summer Concert Series, the CMT Music Awards and the 52nd CMA Awards. Dan + Shay made history as the first new country duo to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart with their Gold-certified first album, “Where It All Began,” featuring the No. 1 Country Airplay single “Nothin’ Like You” and the Platinum-certified “19 You + Me.” The breakout duo followed up with 2016’s “Obsessed,” which produced two more Country Airplay No. 1 hits with the Gold-certified “How Not To” and the Platinum-certified “From The Ground Up.” In addition to national TV appearances, they have shared the stage with some of country music’s biggest superstars, spanning Thomas Rhett, Sam Hunt and Keith Urban. Dan + Shay spent the summer on the road with Rascal Flatts and joined Chris Young for the fall leg of his “Losing Sleep” run; they will kick off their own “Dan + Shay The Tour” in March 2019.
New Kids on the Block
New Kids On The Block have sold more than 80 million albums worldwide — including back-to-back international #1 songs, 1988’s Hangin’ Tough and 1990’s Step By Step — and a series of crossover smash R&B, pop hits like “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” “Cover Girl,” “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” “Hangin’ Tough,” “I’ll Be Loving You,” “Step By Step” and “Tonight.” The group shattered concert box office records playing an estimated 200 concerts a year, in sold out shows throughout the world. This year they celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Hangin’ Tough,” their breakout album that spawned these hits, as well as the ten year anniversary of their reunion which has seen the group touring sold out stadiums year after year and releasing several albums, songs and EPs. Their two most recent full-length albums, “The Block” and “10” landed the group back in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart. Following 2017’s hugely-successful The Total Package Tour, the group is set to embark alongside very special guests Salt-N-Pepa, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson and Naughty by Nature on the aptly-titled The MixTape Tour. Kicking off May 4 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and continuing through over 50 North American cities, the tour will also include stops in Boston, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and LA’s famed Hollywood Bowl.
YouTube Music is the presenting sponsor of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2019.”
“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019” is produced by dick clark productions with Ryan Seacrest, Barry Adelman and Mark Bracco serving as executive producers. Larry Klein is producer.
The complete lineup airing Monday, December 31 on ABC is:
8:00-10:00 p.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 1”
10:00-11:00 p.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 2”
11:30 p.m.-1:09 a.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 1”
1:09-2:13 a.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 2”
About Dick Clark Productions
Dick Clark Productions (DCP) is the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming with the “Academy of Country Music Awards,” “American Music Awards,” “Billboard Music Awards,” “Golden Globe Awards,” “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” and the “Streamy Awards.” Weekly television programming includes “So You Think You Can Dance” from 19 Entertainment and DCP. DCP also owns one of the world’s most unique and extensive entertainment archive libraries with over 60 years of award-winning shows, historic programs, specials, performances and legendary programming. DCP is a division of Valence Media, a diversified media company with divisions and strategic investments in premium television, wide release film, specialty film, live events and digital media. For additional information, visit www.dickclark.com.
About ABC Entertainment
ABC Entertainment airs compelling programming across all day parts, including the new dramas “A Million Little Things” and “The Rookie,” starring Nathan Fillion; new comedies “The Conners,” “The Kids Are Alright” and “Single Parents”; and the new prime-time talk show, “The Alec Baldwin Show.” The ABC Television Network is also home to the groundbreaking dramas “The Good Doctor,” “How to Get Away with Murder” and “Grey’s Anatomy”; the Emmy® Award-winning “Modern Family” and trailblazing comedy favorites “black-ish,” “American Housewife,” “Fresh Off the Boat,” “The Goldbergs,” “Speechless” and “Splitting Up Together”; hit game shows “The $100,000 Pyramid,” “Celebrity Family Feud,” “Match Game” and “To Tell the Truth”; star-making sensation “American Idol”; reality phenomenon “Shark Tank,” iconic “The Bachelor” franchise, long-running hits “Dancing with the Stars” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos”; “General Hospital,” which has aired for over 50 years on the network; and late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The network also boasts some of television’s most prestigious awards shows, including “The Oscars®,” “The CMA Awards” and “The American Music Awards.”
ABC’s multiplatform business initiative also allows viewers to watch current episodes of their favorite ABC shows anytime, anywhere on ABC.com and the ABC app for desktop, smartphone, tablet or connected TV devices.
About YouTube Music
YouTube Music is a completely reimagined streaming music service with music videos, official albums, singles, remixes, live performances, covers and hard-to-find music you can only get on YouTube. It’s ALL here! YouTube Music serves music based on your tastes and what’s moving the community around you. Discover something new or keep up with what’s trending. Basic functions such as playing music and watching videos are totally free, but you can upgrade to YouTube Music Premium to explore the world of music ad-free, offline, and with the screen locked. Available on mobile and desktop. For additional information, visit www.youtube.com/musicpremium.
Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line at Florida Georgia Line’s grand opening of their Nashville creative compound in Nashville on October 30, 2018. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for Florida Georgia Line)
Maren Morris at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York City, on January 28, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Neira/CBS)
The following is a press release from Dick Clark Productions and ABC:
To ring in the New Year, multi-platinum-selling duo Florida Georgia Line and award-winning singer/songwriter/producer Maren Morris are slated to perform live on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019” from the Allstate® Fan Fest in New Orleans, La., where locals and tourists gather each year to celebrate the New Year in advance of the annual Allstate® Sugar Bowl®. As previously announced, award-winning actress Lucy Hale will return to host the 3rd annual Central Time Zone celebration from New Orleans, providing viewers with exclusive performances and celebrity and fan interviews leading up to the midnight countdown and stunning fleur-de-lis drop near Jackson Square to ring in the New Year. America’s biggest celebration of the year will take place Monday, December 31 beginning at 8:00 p.m. EST / 7:00 p.m. CST on the ABC Television Network.
Ranked as the #1 music special of last year, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019” marks the 47th anniversary of America’s biggest celebration of the year and will include 5 ½ hours of special performances and reports on New Year’s celebrations from around the globe. Ryan Seacrest will host the primetime festivities and lead the traditional countdown to midnight from Times Square in New York City, as he has for the last 13 years, with live onsite reporting from actress and comedian Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg. Multi-platinum music superstar Ciara will ring in the New Year from the West Coast as the host of the Hollywood Party, joined by performances from Lauren Alaina, Kelsea Ballerini, Bazzi, Kane Brown, Camila Cabello, The Chainsmokers, Ciara, Foster the People, Halsey, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth and Weezer, as well as collaborations from Kane Brown featuring Lauren Alaina, Macklemore with Skylar Grey presented by Planet Fitness and The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini. Airing just after midnight, Post Malone will perform from a stop on his current tour in Brooklyn, NY, marking the first television performance of the New Year.
“I’m excited to celebrate my first New Year as the Mayor of New Orleans, and proud to have the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve team there to mark the moment,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell, New Orleans. “We’re kicking off a whole new chapter in the history of our City, and pointing the way forward to the next 300 years!”
“We’re preparing for another stellar Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest event, broadcasting New Orleans ringing in the New Year live from the French Quarter. For the third straight year, this partnership gives us the opportunity to showcase our joie de vivre and penchant for hospitality to a national audience,” said Stephen Perry, President & CEO of New Orleans & Company. “We’re eager to kick off the new year with a reminder to millions watching at home that nobody hosts celebrations quite like we do.”
“Once again this year we are thrilled to partner with New Orleans & Company, New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, The Allstate Sugar Bowl, and Dick Clark Productions to ring in the New Year and showcase our great state, our attractions and, of course, our people,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “These live shots from Louisiana are an ideal way to capture the enthusiasm of the New Year holiday, while reminding viewers from across the country where to come and “feed their soul” in 2019.”
“For 85 years, the Sugar Bowl has been bringing the best in college football to our city and guaranteeing that New Orleans is one of the best places to celebrate New Year’s Eve,” said Paul Hoolahan, CEO of the Allstate Sugar Bowl. “By adding Florida Georgia Line and Maren Morris to the festivities, there’s little doubt that our visitors from Georgia and Texas, along with local fans, will experience a great New Years’ celebration.”
Billboard’s first-ever Trailblazer Award recipients, Florida Georgia Line, continue to build their ever-expanding empire of innovative artistry and entrepreneurial endeavors throughout their colossal career. Turning up the heat with “Talk You Out of It,” the steamy single follows PLATINUM chart-topper “Simple” (their 16th No.1 overall as artists) off their anticipated fourth studio album. FGL’s collaborations have amplified their appeal as the 4X platinum-certified, #1 “Meant to Be” with Bebe Rexha is nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 61st Grammy Awards (February 10 on CBS). Shattering records of their own accord, “Meant to Be” also led the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for 50 straight weeks, which is now the longest reign overall. Exceeding 4.2 billion streams, 31 million tracks, and more than 4.3 million albums sold worldwide, the BMLG Records duo became the first Country act to achieve RIAA’s diamond certification (10 million copies sold) for their 11X-PLATINUM breakout “Cruise,” which is the best-selling digital Country single of all time (SoundScan). Since 2012, FGL has earned prestigious honors from the AMAs, ACM Awards, CMA Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and CMT Music Awards, plus left their mark on several chart-crushing songs as writers. The bona fide visionaries have launched their own Old Camp Peach Pecan Whiskey, as well as thriving businesses: FGL HOUSE, meet + greet, Tree Vibez Music, and Tribe Kelley.
Twenty-eight-year-old singer/songwriter Maren Morris has quickly established herself with vocal stylings that reflect her country, folk and pop influences. Armed with sheer talent, honest lyrics and a completely magnetic presence, Morris’ label-debut album, the Gold-certified Hero, released via Columbia Nashville on June 3, 2016. One week after it was available, “Hero” entered the Billboard Top Country Albums chart at No. 1 and No. 5 on the Billboard 200 Chart, which spans across all genres. With this, the Arlington, Texas native became the first artist in the history of Columbia Nashville to open at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Charts with a debut album in the Soundscan era. Morris’ debut single from “Hero,” “My Church,” set a record at country radio by having the most chart reporting stations to play a debut single by a country artist with 107 stations the week it hit the airwaves, in addition to being certified Platinum by the RIAA. Later in 2016 Morris tied for the most nominations with five at the 50th CMA Awards, including Album of the Year (Hero), Female Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year (“My Church”), Song of the Year (“My Church”) and New Artist of the Year, which she won, marking her first CMA Award. She was tapped by Billboard Magazine to receive the Billboard Breakthrough Artist Award at the 11th annual Billboard Women in Music Gala, as well as being awarded the Breakthrough Artist Award by the Music Business Association at Music Biz 2017. Kicking off 2017 Morris took home the Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance for “My Church” at the 59th Grammy Awards, in addition to having the most nominations for a country music artist with four to her credit, including Best New Artist, Best Country Album (“Hero”) and Best Country Song as the songwriter and performer (“My Church”). She received six nominations at the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards, including Female Vocalist of the Year, New Female Vocalist of the Year, which she took home the trophy for, Album of the Year (as artist and producer) for “Hero,” and Single Record of the Year (as artist and producer) for “My Church.” Morris was also named Radio Disney’s Best New Country Artist at the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards. Morris wrapped 2017 with the conclusion of her first-ever headlining HERO Tour 2017, which also included dates in the U.K. Looking ahead at 2018 Maren received her fifth career GRAMMY Award-nomination for Best Country Solo Performance (“I Could Use A Love Song”) for the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. In addition, “I Could Use A Love Song” was Morris’ first No. 1 country radio single, as both the performer and songwriter, reaching the top of both Billboard Country Airplay and Mediabase Country charts in January 2018. Morris’ current single for Country radio is the fun fan favorite song “Rich.” In May 2018 Morris took home her first trophy for Top Country Female Artist at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. Though rooted deeply in country music, Morris has acquired a global, non-genre specific, fan base. It’s that global fan base’s appetite that Morris has satisfied in 2018 by collaborating with electronic house DJ and producer Zedd, along with electronic duo, Grey, for the smash hit, “The Middle,” which spent seven weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Songs airplay chart and seven weeks at No. 1 at the Adult Pop Songs airplay chart. In addition, Morris recently concluded Niall Horan’s Flicker World Tour 2018 which spanned across New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA. Maren concluded 2018 with the high-note-book-end of receiving five nominations for the upcoming 61st Annual Grammy Awards to be held in February 2019. The nominations include Record of the Year [all genre] (“The Middle” – Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey), Pop Duo/Group Performance (“The Middle” – Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey), Country Solo Performance (“Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”), Country Duo/Group Performance (“Dear Hate” – Maren Morris feat. Vince Gill) and Country Song (“Dear Hate” – Maren Morris feat. Vince Gill).
YouTube Music is the presenting sponsor of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2019.”
“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019” is produced by Dick Clark Productions with Ryan Seacrest, Barry Adelman and Mark Bracco serving as executive producers. Larry Klein is producer.
The complete lineup airing Monday, December 31 on ABC is:
8:00-10:00 p.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 1”
10:00-11:00 p.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 2”
11:30 p.m.-1:09 a.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 1”
1:09-2:13 a.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 2”
About Dick Clark Productions
Dick Clark Productions (DCP) is the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming with the “Academy of Country Music Awards,” “American Music Awards,” “Billboard Music Awards,” “Golden Globe Awards,” “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” and the “Streamy Awards.” Weekly television programming includes “So You Think You Can Dance” from 19 Entertainment and DCP. DCP also owns one of the world’s most unique and extensive entertainment archive libraries with over 60 years of award-winning shows, historic programs, specials, performances and legendary programming. DCP is a division of Valence Media, a diversified media company with divisions and strategic investments in premium television, wide release film, specialty film, live events and digital media. For additional information, visit www.dickclark.com.
About ABC Entertainment
ABC Entertainment airs compelling programming across all day parts, including the new dramas “A Million Little Things” and “The Rookie,” starring Nathan Fillion; new comedies “The Conners,” “The Kids Are Alright” and “Single Parents”; and the new prime-time talk show, “The Alec Baldwin Show.” The ABC Television Network is also home to the groundbreaking dramas “The Good Doctor,” “How to Get Away with Murder” and “Grey’s Anatomy”; the Emmy® Award-winning “Modern Family” and trailblazing comedy favorites “black-ish,” “American Housewife,” “Fresh Off the Boat,” “The Goldbergs,” “Speechless” and “Splitting Up Together”; hit game shows “The $100,000 Pyramid,” “Celebrity Family Feud,” “Match Game” and “To Tell the Truth”; star-making sensation “American Idol”; reality phenomenon “Shark Tank,” iconic “The Bachelor” franchise, long-running hits “Dancing with the Stars” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos”; “General Hospital,” which has aired for over 50 years on the network; and late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The network also boasts some of television’s most prestigious awards shows, including “The Oscars®,” “The CMA Awards” and “The American Music Awards.”
ABC’s multiplatform business initiative also allows viewers to watch current episodes of their favorite ABC shows anytime, anywhere on ABC.com and the ABC app for desktop, smartphone, tablet or connected TV devices.
About YouTube Music
YouTube Music is a completely reimagined streaming music service with music videos, official albums, singles, remixes, live performances, covers and hard-to-find music you can only get on YouTube. It’s ALL here! YouTube Music serves music based on your tastes and what’s moving the community around you. Discover something new or keep up with what’s trending. Basic functions such as playing music and watching videos are totally free, but you can upgrade to YouTube Music Premium to explore the world of music ad-free, offline, and with the screen locked. Available on mobile and desktop. For additional information, visit www.youtube.com/musicpremium.
The following is a press release from Dick Clark Productions and ABC:
Dick Clark Productions and ABC today announced performances from chart-topping artists Lauren Alaina, Bazzi, Kane Brown, Camila Cabello, Ciara, Halsey, Shawn Mendes, Weezer and a collaboration from Kane Brown featuring Lauren Alaina have been added to the lineup for the West Coast celebration of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019.” These artists join previously announced West Coast host, multi-platinum music superstar Ciara, and performers Kelsea Ballerini, The Chainsmokers, Foster the People, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai and Charlie Puth, as well as a performance by Macklemore with Skylar Grey presented by Planet Fitness and a special collaboration from The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini. Airing just after midnight, Post Malone will perform from a stop on his current tour in Brooklyn, NY, marking the first television performance of the New Year. America’s biggest celebration of the year will take place on MONDAY, DECEMBER 31 beginning at 8:00 p.m. EST on the ABC Television Network.
Ranked as the #1 music special of last year, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019” marks the 47th anniversary of America’s biggest celebration of the year and will include 5 ½ hours of special performances and reports on New Year’s celebrations from around the globe. Ryan Seacrest will host the primetime festivities and lead the traditional countdown to midnight from Times Square in New York City, as he has for the last 13 years, with live onsite reporting from actress and comedian Jenny McCarthy. Award-winning actress Lucy Hale will return to host the 3rd annual Central Time Zone celebration from New Orleans, providing viewers with exclusive performances and celebrity and fan interviews leading up to the midnight countdown and stunning fleur-de-lis drop near Jackson Square at the dawn of the New Year.
“Our lineup in Hollywood this year is truly outstanding, featuring artists across multiple genres and some incredible crossover hits,” Said Mark Bracco, Executive Producer and Executive Vice President of Programming & Development, dick clark productions. “Music brings people together and we look forward to rockin’ in the New Year with some of the biggest hits of the year.”
Country star Lauren Alaina’s critically-acclaimed sophomore album, “Road Less Traveled,” landed on multiple “Best Of” lists including Billboard, Rolling Stone and Amazon, and it became the top-streamed female country album release of 2017. Praised as “full of life lessons and uplift” (People), the collection of 12 songs all written by the young star includes Lauren’s first No. 1 smash on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, “Road Less Traveled,” the Top 25 hit “Doin’ Fine,” and the deeply personal and inspiring, “Three.” The “sassy Southerner with killer pipes” (PARADE) has shared the stage with superstars including Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Martina McBride and Jason Aldean, and the Georgia native is currently on tour with Cole Swindell and Dustin Lynch. In addition to earning nominations for ACM Vocal Event of the Year, CMA New Artist of the Year, and Billboard Music’s Top Country Song awards, Lauren took home this year’s ACM New Female Vocalist of the Year Award and CMT Collaborative Video of the Year Award for “What Ifs,” the four-time platinum selling No. 1 hit with childhood friend, Kane Brown. Lauren is one of CMT’s Next Women of Country and she received her first CMT Music Award for Breakthrough Video of the Year with her No. 1 hit “Road Less Traveled.” Following the release of Road Less Traveled, Lauren has received nominations for the ACM Awards, CMA Awards, CMT Music Awards, Teen Choice Awards, Radio Disney Awards and Billboard Music Awards.
Bazzi, one of the biggest breakout artists of 2018, catapulted into mega-status with his massive hit “Mine.” The track, now certified two-times platinum, climbed to #1 on Billboard‘s Pop Songs airplay chart and top 3 on the Rhythmic Songs airplay chart. Bazzi solidified his spot as Pop’s most promising newcomer with his follow-up hit “Beautiful,” which included a collaboration with multi-platinum global chart-topping singer/songwriter Camila Cabello. Both tracks are featured on Bazzi’s breakthrough debut album, “Cosmic,” which has been streamed more than a billion and a half times globally. Written predominantly by Bazzi and produced by Rice N’ Peas and Bazzi, “Cosmic” has received ecstatic critical applause, with Billboard praising its “slinky, R&B-infused pop” and Playboy hailing the collection as “genre-bending,” praising Bazzi’s “warts-and-all approach to songwriting.” “Bazzi’s ‘Cosmic’ seems primed to linger near the top of the albums chart for quite a while,” wrote Stereogum, while USA Today echoed, “Bazzi’s career is just getting started.” Bazzi recently performed during The 92nd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, continuing his recent streak of high profile TV appearances including Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, two performances on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “Today,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards – as a Best New Artist nominee. Bazzi has spent much of the past year on The Cosmic Tour, including a sold-out headline run, a special guest role on Camila Cabello’s sold out “Never Be The Same” North American tour, and support on the European leg of Justin Timberlake’s blockbuster “Man Of The Woods Tour.”
Released November 9, Breakthrough star KaneBrown’s second album, “Experiment,” debuted #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, marking only the third country album release to top the Billboard 200 all year and the first time in 24 years a solo country act debuted atop the all genre chart for the first time with a sophomore album. Brown has continued to make history since first releasing his #1 debuting, Platinum-selling self-titled debut album in December 2016. In addition to Platinum and Multi-Platinum RIAA certifications, more than two-billion career audio and video streams, and sold-out concerts, Brown recently won 3 AMA awards, marking the most award wins for any first-time country nominee in the award show’s history. Noted by The New York Times as “one of Nashville’s most promising young stars and also one of its most flexible,” the 25-year-old Georgia native “distinguished himself with an unorthodox path and unvarnished lyrics” (Billboard) and “ultimately bring(s) folks together.” Brown topped the Billboard Top Country Albums chart with his Platinum-certified “Kane Brown,” and again with his “Deluxe Edition” reissue of the album, which also sent the set into Top 5 on the all-genre Billboard 200. That same week (October 28, 2017), Brown made history by becoming the first artist to top all five of Billboard’s main country charts with his No. 1 Top Country Album; a No. 1 debut on Country Digital Song Sales with the Double-Platinum “Heaven,” and No. 1s on Country Airplay, Hot Country Songs, and Country Streaming Songs with the Triple-Platinum “What Ifs” featuring Lauren Alaina. Kane Brown held 12 weeks onBillboard’s Top Country Albums Chart at No. 1, and his multi-week, 3X Platinum No. 1 song “Heaven” was recently featured by Variety Magazine as the only “pure country” hit to be honored as one of the most streamed songs of the year. Additionally, Brown’s 4X-Platinum No. 1 hit “What Ifs” recently became the third most-streamed country song of all time. For more information including touring information, visit KaneBrownMusic.com.
Multi Grammy nominated Cuban born singer/songwriter Camila Cabello (Epic Records/Syco) released her debut solo album, “Camila” in January 2018 to rave reviews. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart at the same time as her single “Havana” Reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making Camila the first soloist in nearly 15 years to reach the #1 spot on both the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts in the same week for the first time. The RIAA gold-certified album “Camila” launched its debut at #1 on over 100 iTunes charts around the world, breaking the record for most #1 positions for a debut album in iTunes history. At the end of 2018, Camila was nominated for two Grammy awards, “Best Pop Vocal Album” for her album”Camila” and “Best Pop Solo Performance” for “Havana” (Live). Earlier this year, she took home awards for Artist of the Year and Video of the Year for her hit “Havana” at the 2018 Video Music Awards. Beginning her official solo career after four years in Fifth Harmony, Cabello released her RIAA 7x platinum smash hit “Havana,” in August 2017 where it obtained the #1 spot on the pop radio chart, marking her second top 40 #1 as a solo artist. Furthermore, “Havana” hit #1 on iTunes overall top songs chart, #2 on the Spotify Global chart and hit #1 in 80 countries around the world. “Havana” is the first song by a female artist to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary, Pop Songs and Rhythmic Songs charts in 22 years, has earned 101 billion on-demand U.S. streams, according to Neilsen Music, and attained the longest run at No. 1 on Pop Songs for any song by a female artist since 2013. Her double-platinum single “Never Be The Same,” was released in January 2018 and peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Cabello had already earned a chart-topping smash with her recent double platinum-certified hit “Bad Things” with MGK. The track generated over 400 million on-demand streams. As a result of its success, she became the fifth female artist to hit #1 on the Pop songs chart with and without a group. In November 2018, Camila was named the new ambassador for Save the Children.
Ciara is a Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter, producer, model and actress. Over her thirteen-year career, she has sold over 23 million records and 16 million singles worldwide, including chart-topping hits “Goodies,” “Ride,” “Oh,” “1, 2 Step,” “Body Party,” and “I Bet.” Most recently, Ciara has been scorching this summer with her new song “Level Up” which has transformed into a defining moment for the culture with the subsequent movement it has incited. Beyond clocking over 100 million views on YouTube, the song spent several weeks at #1 on the iTunes Top R&B/Soul Songs Chart and top 10 on iTunes overall, and attracted Missy Elliott and Fatman Scoop for a high-profile remix which also shot up the iTunes charts. Its high-powered dance initially inspired fans to shoot their own videos with the hashtag #LevelUpChallenge—stirring up a viral buzz that has seen over 2 million posts across social media and launched the video to a #1 trending topic on YouTube. Known for her incredible visuals and stellar dance abilities, Ciara’s videos have been viewed over 1.4 billion times accurately earning her the moniker of “Queen of Dance.” Ciara continues to captivate with her social media prowess reaching over 50 million fans across her platforms and channels. Ciara is not only known for her vocal talent and dance moves, but she is signed with IMG Models and Vogue previously named her the “new fashion icon.” Most recently, she became a Global Brand Ambassador for Revlon. As longtime muse for several high-fashion designers, Ciara has not only been the face of various campaigns but she has graced the covers of numerous fashion and lifestyle magazines. Ciara is a devoted wife and mother of two as well as a philanthropist who is dedicated to improving the lives of children and empowering women across the globe.
Grammy® Award-nominated multi-platinum alternative pop maverick Halsey claimed the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 with her second release, “Hopless Fountain Kingdom,” an album Rolling Stone called “bold” in a 4-star review, claiming that “Halsey could go anywhere from here.” Indeed, since storming on the music scene in 2015, she has garnered over 7 billion streams globally and nearly 6 million global sales, graced the covers of magazines from Nylon to Billboard to Forbes, among others – a far cry from the New Jersey teen who’d escaped her suburban existence for New York, writing poetry, and scrounging money for concerts and her next slice of pizza. Halsey shows no signs of slowing down. This fall she released her new single, “Without Me,” which came on the heels of the summer hit “Eastside,” with Benny Blanco and Khalid, which garnered 300 million streams worldwide in just 2 months. The track was the follow up to the platinum-certified smash with G-Eazy “Him & I,” which reached #1 on Billboard’s Pop Songs Airplay Chart and #1 at Top 40 radio—marking her second #1 since accompanying The Chainsmokers’ on “Closer,” which dominated for 11 weeks and has been certified Diamond by the RIAA. “Him & I” has accrued over 750 million streams worldwide and been certified platinum in several countries. In addition her own two double-platinum-certified singles, “Bad At Love” and “Now Or Never” which also peaked in the top 3 on the Pop Songs Airplay chart. In addition, Halsey pushes creative boundaries expanding her influence and impact beyond music. Earlier this year, Halsey spoke at the 2018 women’s march advocating for equality. Her speech has been viewed millions of times and has moved people from around the world. As her star continues to rise, Halsey uses her voice to speak up for causes she passionately believes in, including disenfranchised youth, women’s rights, mental health and the LGBTQ community, proving that both she and her music can affect meaningful change, and that, yes, the 23-year-old can go anywhere from here. Yves Saint Laurent recently tapped her as a brand ambassador of YSL Beauté where she will help create and share makeup looks that speak to today’s millennial. After making her film debut in the animated 2018 summer movie “Teen Titans Go! To the Movies” as the voice of Wonder Woman, she can be seen this fall in “A Star Is Born,” starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. Halsey went from putting songs on SoundCloud to having her first full length album, “Badlands,” land at #2 on the Billboard 200 and become certified platinum by the RIAA within one year of its release, from couch surfing to witnessing her first tour sell out in minutes to touring globally with sold out dates on five continents (including a sold-out Madison Square Garden performance) and performing for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Norway. In 2017 she earned a 2017 Grammy nomination in the category of “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance” for “Closer,” her Diamond Certified megahit with The Chainsmokers.
Grammy nominated Toronto born singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes released his highly anticipated self-titled third album in May 2018. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart as well as multiple additional worldwide markets, including Australia, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Holland & more. “Shawn Mendes” made Shawn the third youngest solo artist to ever have three #1 albums on the Billboard 200 and became one of the top best-selling album debuts of 2018. The album shot to #1 on iTunes upon release in over 80 countries around the world. At the end of 2018, Shawn was nominated for two Grammy awards; “Song of the Year” for “In My Blood” and “Best Pop Vocal Album” for his self-titled album, “Shawn Mendes.” Leading up to the album, he released multiple tracks including “Youth” Featuring Khalid, “In My Blood” and “Lost In Japan.” Both “In My Blood” and “Lost In Japan,” the first two songs released off the new album, experienced massive success, soaring to the #1 and #2 spots on the overall iTunes chart in the U.S, Top 5 on iTunes in 50 countries, and held the #1 and #2 spots on Spotify’s “New Music Friday” playlist. With “In My Blood,” Shawn became the first artist to ever have had four #1 singles on Billboard’s Adult Pop Songs airplay chart before the age of 20 In April 2017, Shawn released his 3x Platinum hit “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back.” The track scored Shawn his second #1 single on Billboard’s Pop Songs chart, joining 7x Platinum single “Stitches.” Throughout his career, Shawn has achieved 3 consecutive #1 album debuts, 2 Platinum albums, and 8 consecutive platinum and multi-platinum singles. Worldwide, he has sold over 15 million albums, 100 million singles, and has amassed over 16 billion song streams and 5 billion YouTube views. Shawn has completed two sold-out world tours with over one million tickets sold, selling out legendary arenas including NYC’s Madison Square Garden, Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, and London’s O2 Arena in minutes. Shawn Mendes: The Tour begins in March 2019, with over 60 dates currently announced across Europe, North America and Australia, with more to be announced soon. He topped Billboard’s “21 Under 21” in 2017 and 2018 and has been featured on Forbes “30 Under 30,” Spotify’s “25 Under 25,” and Time Magazine’s “Time 100 Most Influential”. In February 2018, ROI Influencer Media recognized Shawn as the #1 Most Influential Artist and #1 Most Influential Teen across all social media platforms.
Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, CA in 1992, currently consisting of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, lead guitar), Patrick Wilson (drums), Brian Bell (rhythm guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), and Scott Shriner (bass, backing vocals). Weezer has sold 10 million albums in the U.S., and over 35 million records worldwide. Their catalogue has included such megahits as “Buddy Holly,” “Undone (The Sweater Song),” “Say It Ain’t So,” “El Scorcho,” “Hash Pipe,” “Island In The Sun,” “Beverly Hills,” “Pork and Beans,” and more. Weezer has won Grammys, MTV Video Music Awards, and more throughout their career. Following massively acclaimed album releases in 2016 and 2017 (Weezer [The White Album] and Pacific Daydream, respectively), and two sold out amphitheatre tours with Panic! At the Disco (in 2016) and Pixies (in 2018), Weezer released a fan-inspired cover of Toto’s “Africa.” The cover propelled the band back into the charts across the board, giving Weezer their FOURTH #1, TENTH Top 5, and FIFTEENTH Top 10 on Billboard‘s Alternative Songs chart, in addition to landing Top 5 on the Adult Pop Songs chart. Weezer will release their highly anticipated twelfth album, Weezer (The Black Album), in 2019.
YouTube Music is the presenting sponsor of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019.”
“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019” is produced by dick clark productions with Ryan Seacrest, Barry Adelman and Mark Bracco serving as executive producers. Larry Klein is producer.
The complete lineup airing Monday, December 31 on ABC is:
8:00-10:00 p.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 1”
10:00-11:00 p.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 2”
11:30 p.m.-1:09 a.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 1”
1:09-2:13 a.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 2”
About Dick Clark Productions
Dick Clark Productions (DCP) is the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming with the “Academy of Country Music Awards,” “American Music Awards,” “Billboard Music Awards,” “Golden Globe Awards,” “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” and the “Streamy Awards.” Weekly television programming includes “So You Think You Can Dance” from 19 Entertainment and DCP. DCP also owns one of the world’s most unique and extensive entertainment archive libraries with over 60 years of award-winning shows, historic programs, specials, performances and legendary programming. DCP is a division of Valence Media, a diversified media company with divisions and strategic investments in premium television, wide release film, specialty film, live events and digital media. For additional information, visit www.dickclark.com.
About ABC Entertainment
ABC Entertainment airs compelling programming across all day parts, including the new dramas “A Million Little Things” and “The Rookie,” starring Nathan Fillion; new comedies “The Conners,” “The Kids Are Alright” and “Single Parents”; and the new prime-time talk show, “The Alec Baldwin Show.” The ABC Television Network is also home to the groundbreaking dramas “The Good Doctor,” “How to Get Away with Murder” and “Grey’s Anatomy”; the Emmy® Award-winning “Modern Family” and trailblazing comedy favorites “black-ish,” “American Housewife,” “Fresh Off the Boat,” “The Goldbergs,” “Speechless” and “Splitting Up Together”; hit game shows “The $100,000 Pyramid,” “Celebrity Family Feud,” “Match Game” and “To Tell the Truth”; star-making sensation “American Idol”; reality phenomenon “Shark Tank,” iconic “The Bachelor” franchise, long-running hits “Dancing with the Stars” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos”; “General Hospital,” which has aired for over 50 years on the network; and late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The network also boasts some of television’s most prestigious awards shows, including “The Oscars®,” “The CMA Awards” and “The American Music Awards.”
ABC’s multiplatform business initiative also allows viewers to watch current episodes of their favorite ABC shows anytime, anywhere on ABC.com and the ABC app for desktop, smartphone, tablet or connected TV devices.
About YouTube Music
YouTube Music is a completely re-imagined streaming music service with music videos, official albums, singles, remixes, live performances, covers and hard-to-find music you can only get on YouTube. It’s ALL here! YouTube Music serves music based on your tastes and what’s moving the community around you. Discover something new or keep up with what’s trending. Basic functions such as playing music and watching videos are totally free, but you can upgrade to YouTube Music Premium to explore the world of music ad-free, offline, and with the screen locked. Available on mobile and desktop. For additional information, visit www.youtube.com/musicpremium.
Post Malone at the 2018 American Music Awards (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images For dcp via ABC/AMA2018)
The following is a press release from Dick Clark Productions and ABC:
Dick Clark Productions and ABC today announced multi-platinum selling artist Post Malone will perform from a stop on his current tour in Brooklyn, NY as part of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019.” Airing just after the midnight countdown, Malone will be the first television performance of 2019. It will also mark Malone’s first time performing on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.” America’s biggest celebration of the year will take place on MONDAY, DECEMBER 31 beginning at 8:00 p.m. EST on the ABC Television Network.
Ranked as the #1 music special of last year, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019” marks the 47th anniversary of America’s largest celebration of the year and will include 5 ½ hours of special performances and reports on New Year’s celebrations from around the globe. Ryan Seacrest will host the primetime festivities and lead the traditional countdown to midnight from Times Square in New York City, as he has for the last 13 years, with live onsite reporting from actress and comedian Jenny McCarthy. Multi-platinum music superstar Ciara will ring in the New Year from the West Coast as the host of the Hollywood Party, joined by performances from Kelsea Ballerini, The Chainsmokers, Foster the People, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai and Charlie Puth, as well as collaborations from Macklemore with Skylar Grey presented by Planet Fitness and The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini. Award-winning actress Lucy Hale will return to host the 3rdannual Central Time Zone celebration from New Orleans, providing viewers with exclusive performances and celebrity and fan interviews leading up to the midnight countdown and stunning fleur-de-lis drop near Jackson Square at the dawn of the New Year.
Post Malone stirs a mix of genres into his own sonic sound that’s both intoxicating and invigorating. His RIAA Platinum certified debut album, Stoney, led the genre-bending Dallas, TX artist to his first Top 10 on the Billboard 200 and first #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 2018, his sophomore album, beerbongs & bentleys, debuted on the Billboard 200 at #1 and achieved one of the year’s biggest streaming weeks ever for an album. Concurrent with beerbongs’ No. 1 debut, Post charted a then-record nine songs simultaneously in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. The same week, he also set a then-record for the most simultaneous Top 40 Hot 100 hits with 14. Additionally, Post Malone charted in over 30 countries on the YouTube Charts. More recently, Post Malone won Best Pop/Rock Male Artist and Best Rap/Hip-Hop Album at the American Music Awards of 2018. He also won the 2018 MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year as well as Top Rap Song at the Billboard Music Awards.
YouTube Music is the presenting sponsor of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019.”
“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019” is produced by dick clark productions with Ryan Seacrest, Barry Adelman and Mark Bracco serving as executive producers. Larry Klein is producer.
The complete lineup airing Monday, December 31 on ABC is:
08:00-10:00 p.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 1”
10:00-11:00 p.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 2”
11:30 p.m.-1:09 a.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 1”
1:09-2:13 a.m. ET – “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 – Part 2”
About Dick Clark Productions
Dick Clark Productions (DCP) is the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming with the “Academy of Country Music Awards,” “American Music Awards,” “Billboard Music Awards,” “Golden Globe Awards,” “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” and the “Streamy Awards.” Weekly television programming includes “So You Think You Can Dance” from 19 Entertainment and DCP. DCP also owns one of the world’s most unique and extensive entertainment archive libraries with over 60 years of award-winning shows, historic programs, specials, performances and legendary programming. DCP is a division of Valence Media, a diversified media company with divisions and strategic investments in premium television, wide release film, specialty film, live events and digital media. For additional information, visit www.dickclark.com.
About ABC Entertainment
ABC Entertainment airs compelling programming across all day parts, including the new dramas “A Million Little Things” and “The Rookie,” starring Nathan Fillion; new comedies “The Conners,” “The Kids Are Alright” and “Single Parents”; and the new prime-time talk show, “The Alec Baldwin Show.” The ABC Television Network is also home to the groundbreaking dramas “The Good Doctor,” “How to Get Away with Murder” and “Grey’s Anatomy”; the Emmy® Award-winning “Modern Family” and trailblazing comedy favorites “black-ish,” “American Housewife,” “Fresh Off the Boat,” “The Goldbergs,” “Speechless” and “Splitting Up Together”; hit game shows “The $100,000 Pyramid,” “Celebrity Family Feud,” “Match Game” and “To Tell the Truth”; star-making sensation “American Idol”; reality phenomenon “Shark Tank,” iconic “The Bachelor” franchise, long-running hits “Dancing with the Stars” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos”; “General Hospital,” which has aired for over 50 years on the network; and late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The network also boasts some of television’s most prestigious awards shows, including “The Oscars®,” “The CMA Awards” and “The American Music Awards.”
ABC’s multiplatform business initiative also allows viewers to watch current episodes of their favorite ABC shows anytime, anywhere on ABC.com and the ABC app for desktop, smartphone, tablet or connected TV devices.
About YouTube Music
YouTube Music is a completely reimagined streaming music service with music videos, official albums, singles, remixes, live performances, covers and hard-to-find music you can only get on YouTube. It’s ALL here! YouTube Music serves music based on your tastes and what’s moving the community around you. Discover something new or keep up with what’s trending. Basic functions such as playing music and watching videos are totally free, but you can upgrade to YouTube Music Premium to explore the world of music ad-free, offline, and with the screen locked. Available on mobile and desktop. For additional information, visit www.youtube.com/musicpremium.
Kevin Hart in “Night School” (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures)
Just two days after announcing that he would host the 91st Academy Awards show, Kevin Hart has quit the job after homophobic remarks from his past caused controversy over his hiring. In a series of social-media posts that began on December 6, 2018, Hart admitted that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had pressured him to make a public apology or else they would fire him. Hart says he chose to quit instead. Several of the homophobic remarks that he made on social media have now been deleted.
The 91st Oscars will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on February 24, 2019. ABC will have the U.S. telecast of the show, which is being produced by Donna Gigliotti and Glenn Weiss. Gigliotti, who won an Oscar with Harvey Weinstein and others for producing 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love,” will be producing the Oscar telecast for the first time. Weiss has been the director of the Oscars telecast for the past several years, and he won an Emmy for it in 2018. The Oscars, like many televised award shows, has faced a steep decline in ratings in recent years. Hart is a popular comedian who has been in several hit movies, and he regularly sells out arenas. His homophobic remarks have been public knowledge for quite some time, ever since he made those comments in 2009 and 2010, but the producers of the Oscars telecast chose to take the risk of hiring him, clearly under-estimating the public outcry that would follow.
Hart said in an Instagram video on December 6, 2018: “My team calls me, ‘Oh my God, Kevin, everyone’s upset by tweets you did years ago. Guys, I’m nearly 40 years old. If you don’t believe that people change, grow, evolve as they get older, I don’t know what to tell you. If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify the past, do you. I’m the wrong guy, man.”
He added, “I chose to pass on the apology. The reason why I passed is because I’ve addressed this several times. This is not the first time this has come up. I’ve addressed it. I’ve spoken on it. I’ve said where the rights and wrongs were. I’ve said who I am now versus who I was then. I’ve done it. I’m not going to continue to go back and tap into the days of old when I’ve moved on and I’m in a completely different place in my life.”
Hart later tweeted: “I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscars. This is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past. I’m sorry that I hurt people. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love and appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.”
The messy controversy over Hart is yet another embarrassment for the Academy, which in the past few years has had its own share of problems when it comes to accusations of bigotry. In 2015 and 2016, there was backlash against the Academy when all the actors and actress nominated for Oscars were white, which led to to the social media hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. After several media outlets published statistics revealing that the overwhelming majority of Academy members were white men over the age of 50, the Academy made very public efforts to invite more women, people of color and younger people into its membership.
In October 2017, after the Harvey Weinstein scandal hit and the #MeToo movement became a major cultural force, the Academy expelled Weinstein from its membership, but received widespread criticism for letting filmmaker Roman Polanski, a convicted rapist, still be a member of the Academy. Polanski, who still has not served his sentence for the 1977 rape of an underage girl in California, is a fugitive from the law living in Europe. Polanski was eventually expelled from the Academy in 2018, as was Bill Cosby after Cosby was convicted of rape. Polanski received his first Academy Award for directing the 2002 movie “The Pianist,” and received a standing ovation from several Academy members when he was announced as the winner. Polanski was not at the ceremony because he has not been in the U.S. since he fled in 1978.
In March 2018, the Academy faced more controversy when president John Bailey was accused of sexual harassment. A female former colleague alleged that he inappropriately touched her when they worked together. Bailey, who denied the accusation, was cleared in an investigation two weeks later, and he was re-elected president of the Academy in August 2018.
The Academy then had a public-relations misstep in August 2018, when it announced that it was adding a new Oscars category for popular films, but said that it hadn’t been decided yet what the qualifications would be for films to eligible for this category. The announcement was very controversial with most Academy members, who say the decision was largely made by the Academy’s board of directors without letting the Academy members vote on the decision. The idea for a “popular films” category also got a mostly negative reaction from the media and the general public. A month after announcing the decision, the Academy announced that the “popular films” category was indefinitely shelved.
Hart quitting as host of the Oscars isn’t the first time that someone has walked away from the job. In 2011, Eddie Murphy (who also has a history of making homophobic remarks when he was doing stand-up comedy) quit the job of hosting the 2012 Academy Awards, after filmmaker Brett Ratner, who had been hired as the Oscar telecast producer, stepped down for saying a homophobic slur in an interview. Murphy was later replaced by Billy Crystal. (Years later, during the rise of the #MeToo movement in 2017, Ratner was accused of sexual harassment by several women, including actress Olivia Munn, who claims that while on a film set, Ratner masturbated in front of her without her consent. Ratner has denied all the allegations, but he has lost several business deals, including with Warner Bros. Pictures and Playboy Enterprises, as a result of the accusations.)
The Murphy/Ratner debacle for the Oscars telecast was years before the rise of the #MeToo movement, and the controversy over Hart shows that the producers of the Oscar telecast have not learned from past mistakes about hiring people who’ve made bigoted remarks, no matter how long ago those remarks were made. Because the Oscars telecast has been losing millions of viewers and because there is more pressure than ever to be a host who can bring in the desired ratings without offending people, it’s no longer as prestigious to host the Oscars as it used to be. Many A-list entertainers don’t want to be under that type of pressure for a dwindling audience.
One thing is clear: Anyone who hosts the Oscars from now on better have a non-offensive background. We are now living in an era where, for many people, it’s not enough for apologies to be made for past bigoted remarks. People are expected to have the type of moral character to not say those hateful comments in the first place. The gray area comes in evaluating how much people are sincerely remorseful for their offensive mistakes, how they have possibly changed for the better to not make the same mistakes, and giving them a chance to prove it.
