The Muppets have been backed to host the Oscars in February 2012 after the sensational exit of Eddie Muprhy and producer Brett Ratner. The comedic actor stepped down following the controversy surrounding Ratner's use of a gay slur.
Now, a fan campaign has been set on Facebook for Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and friends to helm the Academy Awards, where Steven Spielberg, Alexander Payne, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Leonardo Dicaprio are in the running for the top awards. The campaign has got the backing of one particularly important individual - The Muppets screenwriter Nick Stoller, who told Hit Fix, "I'd totally be on board. You could have The Electric Mayhem as the house band! As long and you're not doing crazy, high production stuff". On the potential difficulties of puppeteers taking on a role that has in the past been perfected by the likes of Billy Crystal and Jon Stewart, Stoller said, "The Muppets are a guy under a chair. You need a chair with a hole in it. If you try to do a big musical number, that's where things start to get tricky. And the puppeteers are really good at improvising things if they need to do that".
Meanwhile, comedian Ricky Gervais has offered Hollywood a "two for one" deal, insisting he would be happy to host next year's Oscars, as well as a second stint at the Golden Globes, which he controversially hosted earlier this year. The Academy Awards takes place in Los Angeles on February 26th 2012, while the new Muppets movie is released later this month.