Who Will Replace Casey Affleck To Present Oscar For Best Actress?

It has recently been reported that actor, Casey Affleck has withdrawn from presenting the Best Actress award at The Oscars due to sexual harassment allegations. 

It is tradition at the Oscars to have the Oscar winner for Best Actor to present the award for Best Actress the year following his win. However, tradition will be broken at the 2018 Academy Awards. The announcement came last month when a rep for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed the withdrawal saying, “We appreciate the decision to keep the focus on the show and on the great work of this year.” Although Affleck did not immediately respond, a representative said he would not be attending the Oscar ceremony this year. 

This time last year, Affleck won best actor for his leading role in Manchester by the Sea. As per tradition, the award was given to him by the Oscar winner for Best Actress in 2016 who happened to be Brie Larson. Larson, who is a vocal supporter of the Time's Up movement and who actually won her Oscar for playing a women being abused and held captive in the film Room. Larson was noticeably stand offish when handing the award to Affleck due to the allegations of sexual harassment made against him. 

The accusations against him were made by producer Amanda White and director of photography Magdalena Gorka on the set of the 2010 movie, I'm Still Here in which Affleck directed. After winning the Oscar Affleck spoke in an interview with the Boston Globe saying, “I believe that any kind of mistreatment of anyone for any reason is unacceptable and abhorrent, and everyone deserves to be treated with respect in the workplace and anywhere else.” He also told the newspaper, “There’s really nothing I can do about it, other than live my life the way I know I live it and to speak to what my own values are and how I try to live by them all the time.”

Following the re-emergence of these allegations a Care2 petition started in October asking the Academy to not allow him to present at the 2018 Oscars. The petition gathered nearly 20,000 signatures. Even after his withdrawal from presenting, the Academy has yet to announce who will be presenting one of the more prestiges awards of the night. Could it possibly be Leonardo DiCaprio who won Best Actor for his role in The Revenant in 2016? Who wouldn't want to see Leo grace that stage again? 

This will definitely be a moment we look out for this Sunday! Watch the Academy Awards March 4th, 8 EST on ABC network! 

Photo: Getty