When I first read the Brett Ratner was going to produce the Oscars I let out a big sigh. Brett is not known for his gender sensitivity. He’s best known for the Rush Hour movies and I remember him from his cameo on Entourage where he played himself and came off as a younger version of Hugh Hefner — a dude with a lot of gorgeous women in various stage of undress hanging around his house.

He has made a fortune directing very profitable commercial films, not Oscar type films. His latest film Tower Heist comes out in November and it stars guess who- Eddie Murphy who was just announced yesterday as the host of the Oscars next February.

I’m all for an African American host. The show so needs diversity. Chris Rock was the last African American host and that was in 2004. Before him Whoopi Goldberg hosted the Oscars four times, the last time being 2001.

The consensus was that last year’s youth experiment with James Franco and Anne Hathaway was a disaster. Franco looked like he didn’t want to be there and poor Anne overcompensated for him and seemed a bit out of control. Watching them was watching a first date go horribly wrong. You know that date where the chemistry isn’t there and one person is silent and the other never stops talking cause then the silence would engulf them both?

But really Academy. Did you have to go so far in the opposite direction? I was really happy when Dawn Hudson was named the head of the Academy. And while I know she just started her job, my question is, will her first Academy Awards show be the most testosterone driven show in history?

I hope they don’t forget that the Academy Awards is still called the Super Bowl for women cause for us, it is our big event of the year.
Eddie Murphy to host Oscars and I’m not delirious about it (LA Times)