Ken Jeong Tells ‘The Talk’ That He Would Love To Be The First Asian To Host The Oscars
The Academy Awards are taking place on Sunday, February 24, and the show is still without a host. In early December, comedian and actor Kevin Hart was announced to emcee ABC’s telecast of the biggest event in the movie industry. However, after homophobic tweets that he made in the past resurfaced, Hart dropped out of the show.
One of the names that have been floating around to fill the vacant Oscars host slot is comedian and actor Ken Jeong.
The 49-year-old former doctor first made a big splash in Hollywood as Mr. Chow in The Hangover trilogy. He’s had numerous roles in film and television since then, including starring as Ben Chang in NBC’s Community and as the title character in his very own ABC sitcom, Dr. Ken. After appearing in the groundbreaking 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians, Jeong’s star is on the rise once again.
The funny Korean-American appeared on CBS’ The Talk on Tuesday, January 8, to discuss his role as a judge on Fox’s The Masked Singer, and was asked if he would consider hosting the Oscars.
Of course, Jeong answered yes. He jokingly added that he would be honored to perform other duties that night for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well.
“Oh, I would cater. I would be a medic on it… I would do cue cards. I would put leather on the seats,” he said to the laughing co-hosts and studio audience.
“I, honestly, think that it’s because of the success of Crazy Rich Asians that I am even mentioned in the conversation… I think it’s because of that [that] names like mine are now being [thrown] in the mix for other jobs that normally do not exist [for Asians].”
Additionally, on The Talk, Jeong discussed attending the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday night with the cast of Crazy Rich Asians. He said that the highlight of the night for him was seeing the success of Asian-Canadian actress Sandra Oh, who not only co-hosted the program, but also won a highly coveted trophy.
“If that ain’t a movement, I don’t know what is. It was so emotional. I was telling my wife, it was easily the best awards show we ever attended,” he explained.
. @KenJeong gets my vote to host the #Oscars this year. pic.twitter.com/6iFnShyspG
— Sharon Osbourne (@MrsSOsbourne) January 8, 2019
In December, The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who has hosted the Oscars four times, told Stephen Colbert on CBS’ The Late Show that she would love to see Jeong as the host of the Oscars.
“He would be brilliant,” she said.
“He would also constitute the first Asian-American to host the Oscars. It would be a whole series of firsts. And he also loves film, and I think that’s what you need in a host. You need somebody who actually gets why films are great, who can tell you the ins, the outs, and the silliness of movies.”
ABC has not yet given a date as to when it will reveal who the new Oscars host will be.
