American comedian, actor, director, writer, producer, and television host Billy Crystal has said that he found the 2021 edition of the Academy Awards to be a disappointing affair. The comedian also said the ceremony, which was held in April 2021 after being delayed by two months due to the Covid – 19 pandemic, turned out to be a dull event. The 2021 edition of the Oscars turned out to be the least-viewed Academy Awards telecast on record in the United States, a steep drop from 23.64 million viewers of the 2020 edition of the ceremony, which was the previous all-time low.
On an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, Crystal did not seem too enthusiastic when he was asked if he would be up for hosting the Oscars ceremony again, which he had done nine times previously. The comedian stated he said that people wanted to see millionaires giving gold statues to each other, although how the last time he had hosted the show, the economy was in shambles, which made no sense to him and which came across as problematic.
Crystal also believed the nominations of the 2021 Academy Awards, which featured critically acclaimed movies like Nomadland, The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal, and The Trial of the Chicago 7, were not ‘audience-friendly. He also said that the nominations, though not audience-friendly in a way, were all beautiful films and needed to be celebrated more.
Noting how the ceremony lacked entertainment, Crystal said that the ceremony was responsible to give viewers some entertainment and that it was disappointing that there was a glaring lack of entertainment in the ceremony.
