The chances of seeing Wanda Sykes return to hosting duties for the annual Academy Awards are slim to none following the events that transpired following the 2022 awards show.
Wanda, who co-hosted Hollywood’s biggest and most shocking night in entertainment alongside Regina Hall and Amy Schumer, said, “Oh hell no,” when asked if she would ever host the Oscars again during her Tuesday, July 12 appearance on “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”
“I mean, I shouldn’t say it like that,” the veteran comedian added to her response. “It was an amazing honor, and I think it’s something that you want to do, you do it once, and I don’t know if I would want to do it again.”
Though the 58-year-old star noted that the celebration was an “amazing night” filled with “good vibes” throughout the Dolby Theatre, like many, she felt that the fallout from the evening’s crowned “Best Male Actor,” Will Smith, slapping Chris Rock overshadows many of the fantastic moments that night.
“It was just like, what is happening? Couldn’t believe it. Shock,” Sykes said, recalling the moment the “King Richard” star walked onstage and slapped Rock – as he was presenting the “Best Documentary” category – for making a joke about the actor’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.
Sykes continued, “So, everybody’s just going to sit here? It was like, the show just kept going on, and I’d look behind the curtain like, he’s still sitting here? What is happening? What is going on? It was crazy, it was just bizarre.”
While fans may not see Sykes back on the Oscars stage as host, ABC’s president of Entertainment said it was a “really successful year for the show” despite the incident, and the network is even open to the idea of having Rock hosting next year’s show. The “Spiral” star previously hosted the ceremony in 2005.
“My assessment of the Oscars was that it was really a successful year for the show. Obviously, there was a lot of controversy, which overshadowed a lot of the positive things about the show, but I was really happy with the program,” he said. “Even before that very unfortunate moment, the show started off up year over year, and we came back in a big way.”
In the aftermath of the slap heard around the world, Smith issued several apologies and resigned from the Academy before accepting a 10-year ban from all Oscars-related events, in person or virtually.
