Since Kevin Hart dropped out of his Oscars 2019 hosting gig over several homophobic jokes and tweets, the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony telecast has officially become a host-less affair. Yet that hasn’t stopped Twitter users from suggesting (and tagging) other celebrities for the job. On Wednesday night, frequent Oscars 2019 hosting candidate Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson responded to one such tag with a startling revelation.
Oscars 2019: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson “first choice” to host
According to Hart’s Central Intelligence and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle co-star, he was the Academy’s “first choice” for the role. As he explained it, however, his team and the Academy weren’t able to make things work because of a scheduling conflict.
“I was their first choice to host this year, and my goal was to make it the most fun and entertaining Oscars ever,” Johnson tweeted. “We all tried hard, but couldn’t make it work since I’m shooting Jumanji. Academy and I were super bummed but maybe one day down the road.”
Neither Johnson nor the Academy has returned requests for comment to various outlets. Hart, who is also expected to star alongside the wrestler-turned-actor in the upcoming Jumanji sequel, has also remained silent on the matter in the past 18 hours. Seeing as how the comedian had initially accepted the offer to be the Oscars 2019 host and had begun working on the program before the controversy, many have been wondering precisely how involved he’ll be in the sequel.
Oscars 2019: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson “first choice” to host
Most likely, Johnson and Hart’s shooting schedules aren’t going to be the exact same on the upcoming production. Even so, that hasn’t stopped Twitter users from speculating wildly about the former’s potential Oscars 2019 hosting gig and the latter’s future in the rebooted Jumanji franchise.
Waaaaaaaiiiiiiiit a second, does this signal anything about Kevin Hart’s involvement with Jumanji then? He’s still in it, right?
— Jeff D Lowe (@JeffDLowe) February 6, 2019
Missed opportunity. This would have been awesome. The Oscars need a good smackdown. https://t.co/V5y9qAdjJl
— Timothy Guy (@timwguy) February 6, 2019
Would’ve been amazing when a winner went too long w their speech and this guy would’ve said, “Know your role and shut your mouth” followed by a promise to shine the Oscar award up and shove it straight up their candy ass. https://t.co/OpFELjMsFu
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) February 7, 2019
Brother Jimmy, I think you know the kind of fun I was gonna have (and make the audience have). #RockConcert10Point0
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) February 7, 2019
