Aubrey Plaza hosted this year's Independent Spirit Awards and had the Academy Awards in the crosshairs during her monologue. The 91st annual Oscars are being held this evening, but there is not a host after the Kevin Hart controversy that was sparked late last year and then spilled into this year. The Academy has chosen to go without a host and many are skeptical as to how it will go. There have also been rumors that a secret guest may actually be hosting, but that has yet to be confirmed.
One of the more obvious ways to poke fun at The Academy Awards is for its lack of host. But she didn't stop there as she made more references to the annual event throughout the night, including the fact that the Oscars often nominates the same movies for Best Picture that the Spirit Awards does for Best Feature. However, Aubrey Plaza took aim at the host situation within the first minute of her monologue, which followed a hilarious, star-studded cold open. You can read Plaza's first dig at the Oscars below.
"The network's first choice to host was no one. But they're already booked for tomorrow so you got me!"
The opening monologue for the annual show was definitely a lot more exciting and seemingly unpredictable than what we have seen in the past. Aubrey Plaza referenced the fact that this year's Independent Spirit Awards nominations for Best Director contains 60% women, which is higher than normal. This is something that the Academy Awards have been criticized for in the past and something that Plaza took aim at along with sexism in the US. She had this to say.
"I'm very proud to say that 60 percent of our director nominees are women. Don't get too excited. In this case, 60 percent just means three women. But calling it 60 percent makes it sound way scarier to your uncles and that's fun for me!"
The Independent Spirit Awards cold open featured Aubrey Plaza along with Marisa Tomei, Marcia Gay Harden, Brian Tyree Henry, Christina Ricci, and Sharon Stone as they planned to sacrifice a "virgin," which ended up being Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard. The cold open is hilarious and takes aim at Netflix and Plaza herself for starring in the upcoming Child's Play remake. It is bizarre and violent, but you can watch it below.
Aubrey Plaza has been receiving praise for her Independent Spirit Award hosting job and many are probably hoping that she'll end up as the secret host of the Academy Awards tonight, but that seems pretty doubtful. At this time, Whoopi Goldberg seems to be the name that has been passed around over the past week. Whatever the case may be, Plaza brought a great energy to the Independent Spirit Awards, which for the first time in over a decade that there was no overlap in the eight movies nominated for the Best Picture at the Academy Awards and the five competing for Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. You can watch Aubrey Plaza's monologue and cold open below, thanks to the Film Independent YouTube channel.
Related: Oscars Bashed by Past Winners & Nominees for Cutting Categories from Telecast
