ABC president insists the Oscars hosting debacle is actually good

The president of ABC appears to be grateful the 2019 Oscars rollout has been such a mess because, well, at least it's gotten your attention.

ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke on Tuesday confirmed the Academy won't have a host for the 2019 Oscars and will instead rely on various presenters to carry the night, writes The Hollywood Reporter. Kevin Hart was originally tapped to host the show, only to step down over controversy surrounding homophobic tweets and jokes from years earlier. The Academy spent nearly two months keeping everyone in the dark about how they would salvage the show, which will air on ABC.

But while some might see this situation as dire, Burke said Tuesday she's not nervous about the Oscars' controversies. "Ironically, I have found that the lack of clarity around the Oscars has kept them in the conversion," she said. "The mystery is really compelling. People really care." She went on to say that the Academy "wisely" decided not to have a host in order to "keep the show to brisk three hours." The Academy announced in August that it would cut the length of the show.

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This was decided seemingly in an attempt to boost the Oscars' sagging ratings, and on Tuesday, Burke expressed confidence that there will be a "big turnout" this year, pointing out that several of the nominees were box office hits and that "people are wildly excited about the best song nominees." Those people may be disappointed to learn that the Academy is reportedly limiting all of the song performances to 90 seconds. Whether that's true hasn't yet been clarified with mere weeks to go, but it sounds like Burke and the Academy are perfectly happy keeping us in a state of confusion ahead of the big night on Feb. 24.