#MeToo and Seacrest Set To Clash at Red-Carpet Coverage

The E Network plans to move ahead with Ryan Seacrest anchoring red carpet coverage of Sunday’s Academy Awards, despite accusations of sexual misconduct.

For Robert Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture within the Newhouse School, this will create an interesting situation, as this coverage will likely include celebrity commentary about the #MeToo movement itself.

“Red carpet conversations have become, almost, a little forum for discussions of these kinds of issues,” Thompson said. “That’s going to make for a really difficult dynamic in a job where the very thing he is supposed to do is hold a microphone in front of people we fully expect to talk about the #MeToo movement.”