The Academy Awards are returning to a simpler time. A time when the biggest drama at the awards show wasn’t a slap heard around the world but an awkward mix-up that saw La La Land accidentally crowned Best Picture over eventual winner Moonlight. That is to say, Jimmy Kimmel, who presided over that confusing 2017 ceremony and the subsequent (though far less memorable) one, will return to host next year’s 95th Oscars. “Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honor or a trap,” Kimmel said in a statement. “Either way, I am grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said no.” The ceremony will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 12. At the Emmys, Kimmel’s most recent televised awards-show appearance, the late-night host notably stage-bombed Quinta Brunson’s historic acceptance speech for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy (continuing a bit in which he passed out drunk onstage after losing yet another award to Last Week Tonight). Because the Oscars are corny, you can be sure to see a bit in which Kimmel re-creates that incident at next year’s show, a little sampling of it can be seen in his Top Gun Maverick parody. Please, no more drama — we simply cannot take another slap in this lifetime.
