Here’s why Jimmy Kimmel declined the offer to host the 2025 Oscars

Four months after the Oscars aired on ABC, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is still struggling to secure a host for the 2025 ceremony.

According to Puck, the Academy offered Jimmy Kimmel the chance to host the 2025 Oscars, after he had hosted four times, including the past two years, but he declined the offer.

Comedian John Mulaney, known for his standout Field of Dreams recollection at this year's Oscars, also declined the hosting offer.

This year's Oscars saw a modest increase in viewership, with 19.5 million tuning in, up 4% from last year's 18.7 million. However, it remains far short of the all-time high of 57.2 million viewers in 1998, when Titanic won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Although ratings have been gradually increasing since the record low of 10.4 million viewers in 2021, they still fall short of reaching pre-pandemic levels.

Kimmel hosted the Oscars in 2017 and 2018, followed by the Academy’s experiment with a host-less format in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

In 2022, Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes took on hosting duties, before the Academy returned to Kimmel for 2023 and 2024.

In addition to his notable Field of Dreams presentation, Mulaney also hosted the 14th Annual Governors Awards earlier this January.

Following his third stint as host, Kimmel disclosed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that he didn't believe he would host the Oscars again.

“I did not think I would ever do it again. I did two of them, and they went well — something crazy happened at one of them with a story I’ll have for the rest of my life,” he said, referring to the Best Picture gaffe where La La Land was announced as Best Picture instead of the real winner, Moonlight.

“I know how much work goes into [the Oscars], so I thought, ‘Yeah, I don’t necessarily want to do this ever again,’” he continued.