Ryan Seacrest can't help but be a distraction in an important year on the Oscars red carpet

TIME

"The Oscars red carpet will be the culmination of an extraordinary season in Hollywood," Daniel D'Addario says of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements. "Given the general tone of the conversation around workplace assault and the responsibilities Seacrest bears in general, the best thing, for Seacrest and for his audience, would be to step away from the spotlight," he says. "The problem is that he can’t." D'Addario adds: "In the most hospitable of years, Seacrest’s presence amidst a story like this would be odd and uncomfortable but surmountable. But this year, the topic on the red carpet has been sexual assault in Hollywood, a topic that Seacrest now cannot realistically broach without creating a situation that’s more than embarrassing. It’s one in which he, presently embroiled in a scandal, can’t be an impartial interviewer. It does him no good to be on the red carpet but it also does no good to stars who might have something to say about the biggest Hollywood story in a generation or more, or to viewers hoping to soak up what seems to be a new frankness that’s come over the red carpet."

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