Ellen DeGeneres to Host the Oscars for Second Time

Ellen Degeneres will be taking over the emcee duties for the March 2 Academy Awards telecast, her second turn overseeing Hollywood’s biggest event. She announced the news via Twitter: “It’s official: I’m hosting the #Oscars! I’d like to thank @TheAcademy, my wife Portia and, oh dear, there goes the orchestra.”

Degeneres returns to the Oscar stage as the kinder, more self-deprecating comedian compared to Seth MacFarlane, who brought some much-needed edge but also divided some viewers with his more acidic, raunchier comedy style when he hosted last February.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences elected its new president on Tuesday, marketing executive Cheryl Boone Isaacs, and one of her first responsibilities was to approve the ABC broadcast’s new host. No time was wasted, clearly, although the Degeneres conversations had probably been happening already.

(via: insidemovies.ew)