All those Twitter campaigns and pleads to the Academy to choose The Muppets as the hosts of this year’s Oscar telecast have paid off, sort of. The Muppets may not be hosting the Oscars (it’s still Billy Crystal), but Hollywood’s premier power couple — Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy — will appear onstage together to present an award.
They join the company of such previously announced presenters as Tom Cruise, Halle Berry, Ben Stiller, Emma Stone, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Bradley Cooper and the cast of “Bridesmaids.”
Stars of the original “Muppet Show” and multiple films, Kermit and Piggy’s careers were rejuvenated this year with the commercial and critical favorite “The Muppets,” co-starring Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and co-writer Jason Segel (“How I Met Your Mother”).
The film has one Oscar nomination, in the Original Song category — and since there are only two nominees (the other is “Real in Rio” from “Rio”), it has a good chance of winning. However, we won’t be seeing the gang sing “Man or Muppet” this year, as the show no longer features performances of the nominated songs. Which is a great shame, as it would have been pretty awesome to see the Muppets perform the tune with songwriter/”Flight of the Conchords” star Bret McKenzie.
The Academy Awards air live Sunday, February 26 on ABC.