Surprise, surprise: as a part of the Film Academy’s continued effort to address the Academy Awards’ systemic underrepresentation of diverse filmmakers that has lead to the creation of this year’s #OscarSoWhite campaign, it’s been announced that several people of color will be presenting/performing at this year’s ceremony.
It’s been confirmed that Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Hart, Benicio Del Toro, The Weeknd, and Pharrell Williams will make appearances, with The Weeknd expected to perform. This, of course, comes after the Academy Awards were scrutinized heavily for the all-white acting nominations, and the very nearly all-white everything else.
Of course, there were some white presenters announced: Ryan Gosling, Charlize Theron, Tina Fey, Sam Smith, and Room breakout Jacob Tremblay will all be onstage in one way or another.
Chris Rock is hosting — and NOT rewriting the script to address the #OscarSoWhite narrative. There’s sure to be a huge number of presenters announced in the weeks leading up to the February 28 broadcast, so stay tuned.