Billy Crystal says the 2021 Oscars were "disappointing" because the event lacked entertainment.
Billy Crystal
The 73-year-old comedian-and-actor has been the host of the ceremony on nine occasions but he was underwhelmed by the 93rd Academy Awards, which for a third consecutive ceremony had no singular host and took place this year on April 25 at Los Angeles Union Station to allow for better social distancing among the limited guests.
Billy appreciates that the Oscars had to be held in a different way due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, with a lot of virtual moments, but he felt that the movies that were recognised were not particularly "audience friendly" so the whole evening needed some showbiz razzmatazz.
Speaking on 'The Jess Cagle Podcast with Julia Cunningham', he said: "It's a weird time and, you know, one of the last times I hosted the show the economy was just in a shambles and I said, 'You know, that's what people want to see, millionaires giving each other gold statues,' like it made no sense. It's a very problematic thing, especially now.
"Everything was Zoom-ed and they weren't audience friendly films, in a way, but beautiful films. They needed to be celebrated more, I thought, at least show people who couldn't go out to see them or it wasn't to their liking to stream or something, you've got to give him some entertainment and there wasn't any, and that was disappointment."
In a separate interview, Billy - who has just released his new movie 'Here Today' - admitted that it felt wrong to have a celebratory event like the Oscars when so many people are sick and dying from coronavirus.
Speaking to The Washington Post newspaper, he said: "I wasn’t even in the mood to celebrate anything, because people are sick. People are critically ill. People are hungry. People are broke. Do we really need to see millionaires give each other gold statues?"
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