Ryan Seacrest retained his spot hosting E!’s red carpet coverage as controversy swirled around him over allegations of sexual harassment that he denies, but A-list actors were conspicuous by their absence from the roster of interviewees that E!’s Live from the Red Carpet managed to attract.
No formal boycott was announced, but only two of the five supporting actress nominees – Alison Janney and Mary J Blige – were interviewed, while other prominent early arrivals such as Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd did not speak to him. Others he did speak to made remarks considered pointed by Twitter users: notably Taraji P Henson, who said: “The universe has a way of taking care of the good people, you know what I mean?”
Before the ceremony Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, had called for Seacrest to be dropped from TV coverage of the Oscars’ red carpet, in the wake of the sexual harassment allegations against him from his former stylist.
Speaking to Variety, Burke said that Seacrest should be removed from E!’s Oscars’ broadcast to avoid pressure on female celebrities over whether to avoid him or not. “They really shouldn’t send him [to the Oscars],” Burke said. “We shouldn’t have to make those choices of, ‘Do we or don’t we?’”
“This is not about his guilt or innocence,” Burke added. “It’s about there being an accusation that’s alive, and until they sort it out, it’s really on E! News and shouldn’t be on us … It will let us know where they stand in terms of how respectful E! News is of this issue – and of women.”
Seacrest, who began hosting E!’s Live from the Red Carpet in 2006, has been accused by stylist Suzie Hardy of aggressive sexual advances, groping and sexual molesting, including grabbing her vagina and rubbing against her with an erection, while the pair both worked for E! News.
Seacrest has denied the accusations, going public with them in November, calling them “reckless”, and also responding in Variety with a guest column entitled What Happened After I Was Wrongly Accused of Harassment. An investigation by an “outside counsel” on behalf of E! reported that there was “insufficient evidence to support the claims against Seacrest and therefore could not be substantiated”.
