--- title: Why People Think Whoopi Goldberg Might Host the 2019 Oscars description: Some people are speculating that Whoopi Goldberg may show up as the surprise host of the 91st Academy Awards. canonical: https://time.com/5534669/whoopi-goldberg-oscars-2019-host/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-21T17:21:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:23:10.395Z og:title: People Think Whoopi Goldberg Might Be the 2019 Oscars Host og:description: They've got some theories og:url: https://time.com/5534669/whoopi-goldberg-oscars-2019-host/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb14d0824752f1317/6989458eb21a9c3dda500257/whoopi-goldberg-oscars-2019.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Whoopi-Goldberg-Oscars-2019 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Think Whoopi Goldberg Might Be the 2019 Oscars Host twitter:description: They've got some theories twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb14d0824752f1317/6989458eb21a9c3dda500257/whoopi-goldberg-oscars-2019.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Why People Think Whoopi Goldberg Might Be Your 2019 Oscars Host > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=1492b197-0366-4901-9bfa-41c9daa60ca8&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Here Are the 91st Academy Award Nominations [Watch (HLS stream): Here Are the 91st Academy Award Nominations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4OYeSho8.m3u8) (3:14)  _Published 2019-01-22. The Favourite, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, and Roma, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, lead the nominees with 10 nods each, closely followed by Vice and A Star Is Born, with eight nominations apiece._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 21, 2019 5:21 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 21, 2019 5:21 PM UTC With the Academy yet to name a new host for the [2019 Oscars](http://time.com/5530295/2019-oscars-ceremony-mess/) since [Kevin Hart stepped down](https://variety.com/2018/film/awards/kevin-hart-says-the-film-academy-has-given-him-an-ultimatum-apologize-or-well-find-another-oscars-host-1203083698/) in December, it has seemed like the ceremony may go on without someone running the show. But thanks to a little viral detective work, some people are now speculating that [Whoopi Goldberg](http://time.com/5084751/tiffany-haddish-whoopi-goldberg-advice-snl/) may be the surprise host of the 91st Academy Awards. Despite her _The View_ co-host Joy Behar denying the rumor that Goldberg has been secretly tapped as this year’s Oscars host, some people on the Internet seem to think that Goldberg’s recent absence from the talk show means otherwise. “Whoopi’s still out. She’s not feeling well. And there are all these conspiracy theories that she’s not really sick. She’s secretly preparing to host the Oscars,” Behar said during Thursday’s episode of _The View_. “But she’s actually recovering from pneumonia. That’s what she had, it’s a serious thing. So I don’t think she’s going to be able to host the Oscars and I’m sure she’s very disappointed.” Behar’s comments came in response to a [tweet](https://twitter.com/peterknegt/status/1098033983919742976) from CBC Arts producer Peter Knegt in which he outlined the evidence he seems to think supports the host Whoopi theory. “Whoopi Goldberg’s absence from _The View_ (she’s sick, they say) since the day after they announced her as an Oscar presenter+the fact that she’s the only previous Oscar host listed as a presenter+she openly said on _The View_ in January that she’d be up for hosting=???” he wrote. Knegt later issued a correction of his original tweet, noting that Goldberg said she’d be open to hosting in December, not January, and adding that _The View_ also happens to be on the same network that broadcasts the Oscars, ABC. “Correction: she openly said on _The View_ in \*December\* that she’d be up for hosting (pre-Kevin Hart),” he tweeted. “Also additional obvious +: _The View_ is on ABC.” > [](https://twitter.com/peterknegt/status/1098038664368664578) At any rate, Goldberg will be [presenting](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/04/oscars-2019-presenters-whoopi-goldberg-awkwafina-daniel-craig-jennifer-lopez) alongside stars like Awkwafina, Daniel Craig and Jennifer Lopez. Tune in to the 2019 Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. on ABC to see if Whoopi makes a surprise appearance as the awards show’s host. ## Transcript And now for performance by an actor in a leading role. [ MUSIC ] Christian Bale in Vice. Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born. Willem Dafoe, At Eternity's Gate. Rami Malek [ APPLAUSE ] in Bohemian Rhapsody and Vigo Mortensen in green book. Me too I'm going to go work out for three to four hours really. I do pull ups, push downs. Here we go I don't believe you. For performance by an actress in a leading role. [ MUSIC ] Yalitza Aparicio in Roma. [ APPLAUSE ] Glenn Close in The Wife. [ APPLAUSE ] Olivia Colman in The Favorite. [ APPLAUSE ] Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born. [ APPLAUSE ] And Melissa McCarthy in can you ever forgive me [ APPLAUSE ]. Dreams just coming throughout here. [ LAUGH ] Here are the nominees for achievment in [ UNKNOWN ] Directing. [ MUSIC ] Black Klansman, Spike Lee. [ APPLAUSE ] Cold War, Pawel Pawlikowski. [ APPLAUSE ] The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos. [ APPLAUSE ] Roma, Alfonso Cuaron. [ APPLAUSE ] And Vice, Adam McKay [ APPLAUSE ] Hey I'm gonna work on [ INAUDIBLE ], my God, here it is. The final one. Gosh. Wanna do the big one together? Yes, let's do this together. Okay, here we go. And finally, here are the films selected as Best Picture nominees. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Black Panther. Kevin Feige, producer. [ APPLAUSE ] BlacKkKlansman, Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele And Spike Lee, producers. [ APPLAUSE ] Bohemian Rhapsody, Graham King, producer. [ APPLAUSE ] The favorite, ��� Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos, producers. [ APPLAUSE ] Green Book Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga producers. Roma Gabriela Rodriguez and Alfonso Cuaron. [ APPLAUSE ] Producers. [ APPLAUSE ] A star is born. Bill Gerber, Bradely Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor producers. [ APPLAUSE ] And the eight and the final nominee. Vice. Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay, and Kevin Messing, producers. Wow. Wow. And congratulations to all the nominees. 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