ABC boss calls Oscar Best Actor ending "a calculated risk" that "I think still paid off," defends the dearth of comedy bits and clips

Variety

“It was not meant to end on somebody who was not present,” said ABC's Robert Mills, Walt Disney Television's executive vice president of unscripted and alternative entertainment, of the Anthony Hopkins-Chadwick Boseman controversy in a wide-ranging interview with Variety. “It was a calculated risk, that I think still paid off because everybody was talking about it. Similarly, nobody wants the wrong envelope to happen, like it did three years ago, but everyone was talking about it. I think some people thought maybe they missed some awards. ‘Why is best picture early?’ or, ‘What’s happening, this is crazy,’ almost like, ‘How can this possibly happen? Best picture has to end it!’ Some people were upset, some people loved it and that was really the point that there was no apathy.” As for only having one comedy bit all ceremony, Mills said: “There wasn’t a host, and I think nobody quite knew in this year if it would be tone deaf. You still want to be celebratory, especially in a year where people were able to do such amazing work. But you also want to be mindful of where we still are in the world. So I think that’s why the show that happened was pretty much the show that they’ve been planning for many months.” Mills also defended barely featuring any clips. “When you look at the award show length and you look at the previous award shows, that’s one place where time really adds up,” Mills said. “It’s in clips. The producers really wanted to tell exactly what somebody does, what an art director does or what sound design is, as opposed to playing another clip for movies.” ALSO: Anthony Hopkins offered to Zoom into the ceremony and Oscar producers turned him down.