Billy Crystal Says Oscars Without Host Is Like 'Trial Without Witnesses'!

Billy Crystal is calling out the Film Academy and ABC Entertainment’s decision to go without a host for a second year in a row at the 2020 Oscars this weekend.

When visiting Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday (February 6), the 71-year-old actor said that not having a host is like “having a trial without witnesses.”

Crystal has hosted the Oscars nine times, while Kimmel has served as the host twice. “It moves faster, but it’s not quite the result that you want,” Crystal said of the show not having a host.

Jimmy then asked if he felt that having a host was important, and Billy said: “To me, it’s the tradition of it. When we did it, I always felt I was in a line of Johnny [Carson] and Bob Hope and the people I grew up with,” he said. “I always loved being out there. I loved the trust that the movie academy had in me to get me out there and I always felt like it was a great honor to do it.”

“I think that when you have a show that’s as long as it is, things are gonna happen,” Billy continued. “I think the problem with the no host thing, perhaps, is that there’s not somebody out there to capitalize on that moment.”

“Some of my best moments were when something went wrong,” Billy explained – Watch what else he had to say about it here!