MacFarlane also hosted the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” last month and also created the animated series “American Dad!” and “The Cleveland Show.”
Hawk Koch, president of the Academy, said the decision came down to who would bring in the most viewers. “He’s funny, he can sing, he’s classy. Yes, he does irreverent stuff, but he’s very funny even when he isn’t being irreverent,” Koch said. “We wanted to have a fresh look at the Oscars. We didn’t want someone who’d done it before.”
Koch says his choice was not based on trying to attract a younger audience to the Oscars, although MacFarlane’s audience does pull in a mostly young, male viewership. Billy Crystal hosted this year’s ceremony after original choice Eddie Murphy dropped out. The previous year, James Franco and Anne Hathaway co-hosted the event. The Oscar ceremony is scheduled for February 24.
Kim Masters, host of KCRW’s The Business, joined Steve Chiotakis to break down the Academy’s decision.
Here’s a funny video Seth MacFarlane created to announce the news: