This is the question on everyone’s mind of “The Bachelorette’s” producers, ABC, Hulu and the Disney legal team.
On Thursday, ABC announced that the heavily promoted new season of “The Bachelorette,” scheduled to premiere Sunday, would not be moving forward “at this time.” Why not? Well, the Bachelorette in question, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul, was the subject of a second domestic assault investigation as a damning video from her first, in which she pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, made the rounds courtesy of TMZ. Filming for Season 5 of “Mormon Wives,” which Paul executive produces, was also abruptly halted.
The disturbing video is hard to watch. Not so much because Paul puts on-again, off-again partner Dakota Mortensen into a headlock and then pelts him with metal bar stools — sadly, this is a scene that would not be out of place on many reality shows — but because a small child is in the room. After one of the stools bounces toward the camera, Paul’s then-5-year-old daughter Indy begins crying and Mortensen later says “help your child.” Even as the child cries “Mommy,” Paul continues on her rampage. When Mortensen belatedly attempts to help Indy, Paul screams at him to “get away from my child.”
And while “Bachelorette” producers and Disney lawyers may not have seen the video, which was introduced in the 2023 court case, the police report makes it clear that Indy was injured during the incident, noting a “goose egg” on the child’s head. Paul was charged with aggravated assault, child abuse and domestic violence in the presence of a child. Paul, who said she had been drinking before the incident, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony. The other charges were dismissed and Paul, who was put on probation, submitted a plea of abeyance. In August 2026, a court will review the assault charge and, if Paul complies with the terms of her probation, could lessen it to a misdemeanor.
Should a new criminal charge be made after the current investigation, all bets are off.
So was it the emergence of the video or the possibility of a felony conviction that caused ABC to put this season of “The Bachelorette” on ice? Does the reason matter?
ABC knew that Paul had been charged in a domestic violence incident that led to the injury of her child and somehow thought she would make an excellent Bachelorette anyway.
What were they thinking?
“The Bachelorette” Season 22 billboard starring Taylor Frankie Paul is seen on Thursday — the day her season was axed.
(HIGHFIVE / Bauer-Griffin / GC Images via Getty Images)
They were thinking that audiences like messy “authenticity,” and it doesn’t get any more authentically messy than 31-year-old Paul, who climbed to social media fame by founding MomTok, a TikTok community of married Mormon women dancing, joking and pushing against the traditions and restrictions of their faith. Pretty and profane, funny and frank, Paul amassed a large following. After Paul discussed the “soft swinging” she and her husband engaged in with other Mormon couples, the group went viral and led to the creation of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” the first episode of which was titled “The First Book of Taylor.”
Chronicling the fallout from the “soft-swinging” scandal, the first season built on Paul’s frank discussions of her chaotic life; it was Hulu’s most-watched unscripted season premiere of 2024. The subsequent three seasons, in which the MomTokers deal with the pressures of fame, their romantic relationships and all manner of internal “Mean Girls” drama, have continued to grow the show’s audience even as ratings for “The Bachelor” franchise flagged.
To the algorithm, or a numbers cruncher, the hopes that Paul could bring some of the “Mormon Wives” magic to “The Bachelorette” might make sense.
Except Paul isn’t magic; she waves her red flags high and proud, and the good folks at ABC, Hulu and Disney charged at them with the oblivious desperation of so many trapped, maddened bulls. (It usually does not end well for the bulls either.)
The “soft swinging” led to her divorce from first husband, Tate Paul, with whom she has two children, including Indy. As chronicled on “Mormon Wives,” she began her turbulent relationship with Mortensen, with whom she shares a young son, Ever. Her 2023 arrest was a storyline — she called it one of the rock bottoms of her life, though in a recently resurfaced TikTok video, she brags about throwing things and being arrested — and in Season 4 she was found in bed with Mortensen, with whom she had allegedly broken up, on the morning she was supposed to fly to L.A. to film “The Bachelorette.” (She caught a later flight.) The season finale ended with the possibility that Paul might be pregnant.
Reality cross-pollination has become so increasingly popular — ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” couldn’t live without it, and Peacock’s hit show “The Traitors” is built on it — that there seems to be little thought given to the apples-versus-oranges fact that not every reality show is the same. “Bachelorette” producers not only ignored the misgivings voiced by their own fans, many of whom did not think Paul would be approaching the show as a truly single woman searching for love, they reportedly extended her many freedoms denied other participants, including unmonitored use of her phone during filming.
They clearly wanted the ratings miracle that Paul’s unvarnished wildness had lent “Mormon Wives.”
Casting for maximum drama is a driving force in many reality shows. Even if one accepts that perfectly reasonable people are happy to live in a bubble with strangers for months in hopes of achieving love, fame or a cash prize, someone inevitably is cast to bring the crazy, er, conversation-sparking personality. And like all of television, reality is facing splintered and waning audiences so the decibel level of that conversation-sparking is often dialed way up.
Hence the ascendancy of Taylor Frankie Paul, queen of MomTok and “Mormon Wives,” a woman known for her lack of filter and habit of putting it all out there. For the purposes of our entertainment.
There is, of course, no point in mentioning the many past, and often show-derailing, scandals of the genre — the suicides, the racism, the sexual assault, homophobia, bullying, pedophilia, infidelity and just general ghastliness that has arisen from the popularity of people sharing their “real” lives. Audiences connect with these shows, the messier the better.
But, as it turns out, some messes are too big to leverage even for forgiving eyeballs of reality fans.
“The Bachelor” franchise should have known better. It’s been around for almost a quarter-century and has suffered its fair share of scandals during those years. But drafting a woman who was convicted of assault in an incident that harmed her own child, well, “The Bachelorette” knew it was playing with fire.
Clearly they hoped she would rekindle the dying embers of the show.
“The best way I can describe it is, it’s an addiction,” says Taylor Frankie Paul.
The star of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” is seated by a window in an empty Starbucks within a downtown Salt Lake City hotel, reflecting on her relationship troubles in an interview Feb. 19. Followers of Paul’s screen life are all too familiar with the drama. Now, others can’t escape knowing about it too.
Days later, a dispute with her on-again, off-again partner would lead to an investigation by police that surfaced in multiple news reports this week, and on Thursday, the release of a video recording of a separate dispute in 2023 would lead to a pause on “The Bachelorette,” her latest starring role on reality TV, three days before it was set to premiere.
Her brush with fame began with #Momtok, as the self-proclaimed founder of the Utah-based group of Mormon moms that spawned the so-called corner of TikTok where they shared choreographed dance videos and light lifestyle content. But in 2022, she rose to notoriety after revealing in a TikTok Live session details about an arrangement she had with her then-husband Tate Paul to pursue intimate relations with other consenting couples (without having extramarital sex); she confessed to violating their agreement by having an emotional affair. The salacious revelation, which became known as the “soft-swinging” scandal, lit up social media and, eventually, led to the creation of Hulu’s breakout hit “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” Much of Paul’s story across the show’s four seasons has revolved around her rocky relationship with Dakota Mortensen, the man she began dating following her divorce.
Dakota Mortensen and Taylor Frankie Paul in a scene from “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” The pair share a 2-year-old son.
(Fred Hayes / Disney)
Even as the show documented the lead-up to Paul becoming the new face of “The Bachelorette,” her biggest screen opportunity yet, the pair’s on-again, off-again dynamic remained as turbulent and confusing as ever, down to the “Mormon Wives” season’s final minutes. A despondent Paul nearly upended the start of production on ABC’S dating series when she missed her flight to Los Angeles after sleeping with Mortensen, who is the father of her youngest son, Ever, the night prior. (She took a later one.)
“I was just still stuck in the cycle,” she says, noting she hasn’t watched the “Mormon Wives” finale. “That’s why I knew I had to leave [to do ‘The Bachelorette’], if that makes sense … I can’t help people understand it because my own brain doesn’t understand it. The only thing I can relate it to is, it is a drug; the toxicity is a drug. It’s always a mind game and I fall for it every time, and I cave and it’s just so dumb. I get exhausted saying it to people because I’m like, ‘I don’t blame you guys. I’m mad at me.’”
The hook of a 31-year-old mother of three trying to find love — who unapologetically wears her troubles on her sleeve — was supposed to be what made her a desirable candidate for the latest crossover experiment to hit Disney’s reality TV universe. But in the week leading up to Sunday’s Season 22 premiere of “The Bachelorette,” reports surfaced detailing allegations of domestic violence involving Paul and Mortensen. Utah’s Draper City Police Department confirmed there is an open investigation involving the pair; a spokesperson for the department declined to share more details amid the ongoing investigation. But according to a person familiar with the situation, allegations were made by both parties involving incidents on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25, less than a week after our interview. No charges have been filed in the case.
Taylor Frankie Paul in a promotional still from ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” now on pause.
(Sami Drasin / Disney)
Paul was previously arrested and charged in 2023 for a separate dispute involving Mortensen, eventually pleading guilty to one count of aggravated assault; other charges were dropped. Part of that incident was documented in the first season of “Mormon Wives.” On Thursday, TMZ published a video of the incident, leading Disney Entertainment Television to hit pause on the planned premiere of “The Bachelorette.” “In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” the statement from Disney read. Whether the season will be released at a later time or be re-edited remains to be seen, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“Taylor is very grateful for ABC’s support as she prioritizes her family’s safety and security,” read a portion of a statement provided by a representative for Paul. The statement went on to say Paul suffered “extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation.”
While Season 5 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” began production in January, cameras were not following Paul during the time of the recent incidents; Paul was focused on publicity commitments for “The Bachelorette.” Hulu and ABC declined to comment on the ongoing investigation. Mortensen could not be reached for comment. Production on “Mormon Wives” is currently on pause and a decision on Paul’s status as a cast member has not been made, according to a person briefed on the situation.
Paul’s chaotic reality now casts a shadow on both shows. The programming experiment aimed at expanding and blending the audiences of ABC’s veteran dating series and Hulu’s budding answer to the “Real Housewives” franchise now becomes an example of too much of a good thing — in this case, overextending a breakout hit early in its run — and how it can backfire. And it puts a spotlight on the discourse surrounding vetting failures and oversights in reality TV, as well as the compulsion or limits by viewers to rubberneck, particularly by savvy viewers of a genre that thrives on sordid personal drama.
How the ‘Mormon Wives’ crossover took shape
At a time when the traditional television landscape faces steep challenges, accelerated by a radical shift in viewing habits spurred by streaming and social media, Disney has been blurring the lines between its linear and streaming properties — ABC and Hulu — to maximize the reach of its unscripted assets. “Mormon Wives,” which has released four seasons in less than two years, has become a key player in that effort. Earlier this year, two of its cast members, Jen Affleck and Whitney Leavitt, competed against each other on “Dancing With the Stars.” And Paul’s casting as “The Bachelorette” makes her the first heroine who was not a contestant on a previous season of “The Bachelor.”
Prior to the reports about Paul, The Times spoke to Robert Mills, who leads Walt Disney Television Alternative, as well as show producers, about collaboration efforts within the company’s broadcasting universe as a way to expand and reward viewer curiosity.
Mills, a veteran ABC unscripted executive, said it was a way the company can distinguish itself from its competitors, particularly as it seeks to build Hulu’s unscripted slate against streaming rivals with deeper benches. And the possibilities on how to apply it to “Mormon Wives” began the summer ahead of its launch. As “Dancing With the Stars” producers were in the final stretch of casting the show’s 33rd season, Mills says there was talk of having one of the women be a contestant on the competition that fall, to coincide with the new show’s arrival.
“I do remember saying, ‘If it’s not this season, I know we’re going to have somebody next season because you can just feel this,” he says, referring to the energy surrounding “Mormon Wives.” “When the show took off, then it became, ‘OK, now we know we’re doing it.’”
And while having a cast member compete on “Dancing With the Stars” may, on its own, create a curiosity factor for audiences of both shows, the added layer of having the journey play out on “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” had the potential to heighten the story and viewing experience. And why not have two “Mormon Wives” cast members in the same season to see how their competitiveness plays out? So they did.
Dancer Jan Ravnik with partner Jennifer Affleck on “Dancing With the Stars.” (Eric McCandless/Disney)
Mark Ballas and Whitney Leavitt, who reached the semi-finals on the dancing competition series. (Eric McCandless/Disney)
The casting process for “DWTS” was documented in the third season of “Mormon Wives,” with Affleck and Leavitt pitching themselves to ABC executives. And their journey on the competition, including moving their families to Los Angeles and their eventual falling out, is featured in Season 4.
Corporate synergy within the Disney portfolio is nothing new, particularly on “Dancing With the Stars.” Disney Night is a recurring themed episode on the competition show, with contestants dancing to Disney, Pixar and Marvel tunes. And the series has featured stars from “Bachelor” nation before. But navigating the ins and outs of stories that intertwine without overstepping has required nimbleness.
“We basically carved out times where they [the ‘Mormon Wives’ crew] could film rehearsals and we always had a producer present just in case something happened that was dramatically important for our show,” says Conrad Green, the showrunner of “Dancing With the Stars.” “It’s like a gentleman’s agreement — we’re borrowing talent off another show so we have to work together and it works for everyone’s benefit.”
Stretching out a successful series typically leads to spin-offs — and yes, Mills says, those conversations are happening with “Mormon Wives” — at least at the time of the interview. In the meantime, the crossover strategy has become its key feature. Its third season featured the fallout from an explosive crossover with Hulu’s “Vanderpump Villa,” which follows Lisa Vanderpump, a former Bravo star, and her staff at various luxury European estates. MomTok stars Demi Engemann and Jessi Ngatikaura were guests on that show’s second season and got embroiled in drama with staff member Marciano Brunette, who alleges he had intimate connections with both women. The recent fourth season of “Mormon Wives” revisits the crossover, with some of the women’s spouses partaking in their own “Villa” getaway that fuels more drama.
Layla Taylor, left, Jessie Ngatikaura, Mikayla Matthews and Demi Engemann of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” at the castle in “Vanderpump Villa.”
(Andrea Miconi / Disney)
Paul’s casting in “The Bachelor” universe continues the long-running franchise’s efforts to revamp as it ages, to mixed results. In 2021, the franchise cast its first Black male lead; last year, it entered the senior citizen dating space with spin-off “Golden Bachelor.”
After Paul posted a TikTok in June 2025 jokingly announcing her “bid” as a single mother looking for love, members of the company’s publicity department took notice and, before long, discussions began. When the idea to bring on a star outside the franchise was presented to”The Bachelorette” showrunner Scott Teti, he did some homework.
“Of course, I had heard of her — it’s hard not to hear of that name,” he says. “But I had to familiarize myself with it because I hadn’t watched her show. Instantly, you realize how honest and truthful she is, almost to a fault. Although she’s unrelatable in a lot of ways, with the attention she gets from media and social media … she has a layered story that I think is very relatable to a lot of people — being a single mother and not having success in past relationships and still really wanting to find love.”
He adds that though she was a “fish out of water” the first night, she found her way. “She made herself vulnerable and she finally let her walls down and made herself open to being in a relationship, finding someone,” he says. “At the same time, because she is used to doing things her own way, and not really caring what anybody thinks, that is what made it interesting. That is why this season is so big, and there are so many pivotal points in the season that will leave you on the edge of your seat.”
At least that was the plan.
Dressed in beige lounge pants and an oversize T-shirt adorned with mushrooms when we meet, Paul is affable despite her sluggish demeanor as she navigates the schedule demands in this window between “Mormon Wives” Season 4 and her debut as “The Bachelorette.” She pulls out her phone to share a series of TikTok videos that capture what she says is her current mental state — one features a man sarcastically talking about how he’d rather be petty than regulate his emotions. No stranger to finding a wide audience with viral videos, Paul sees the crossovers as “genius marketing.” But also acknowledged their potential challenges to #MomTok.
“I think it’s really cool to see all the different opportunities you can venture off into,” she says. “I think the con of that, with #MomTok, is that with all the opportunities, it kind of spreads us apart. We’re doing our own thing. It could break friendships. You’re getting envious. You get competitive.”
As the cast’s fame and opportunities grow, whether across Disney or outside of it — Leavitt, for example, is starring as Roxie Hart in “Chicago” on Broadway — the way to keep the series interesting is to incorporate all those moments into the show rather than pretend they live outside of it.
“We have not shied away from breaking the fourth wall,” says “Mormon Wives” showrunner Andrea Metz. “We have not shied away from talking about what is really happening with them. And I think that people like that. The trajectory of their fame and their stars rising has been very quick, but it’s also been really exciting.”
And the highs and lows are in full view, as this week proves.
Was she ready for ‘The Bachelorette’?
How all this might impact #MomTok — the power of their clique to withstand the various in-fighting and drama has become a perennial concern each season — is already playing out in the headlines.
Before recent allegations against Paul threatened the outcome of “The Bachelorette,” Paul’s entanglement with Mortensen had already cast doubt for some viewers of both franchises about whether she went into the dating series with any seriousness. The break between wrapping “Mormon Wives” and starting filming on “The Bachelorette” was one day. Paul admits she isn’t sure she was ready for the experience.
“I might not have been ready, but ready is a decision — just do it,” she says. “It was like a rehab, almost. It’s full detox. I had no contact — in no world does it happen with the co-parent. Whether or not I was ready, it was what was so needed for me, at the very least to just get away from it. And I wanted to find someone and love.”
“‘The Bachelorette’ is one of the hardest things I ever did,” she continues, “but also the most amazing things I ever did. I have my kids back home. I’m not just here looking for me. The emotional exhaustion was a lot. I’m dating 20-something guys. I am putting my all into one conversation after the other, every single day, all day. Your brain is just kind of fried.”
Then she considers a question that didn’t feel as prescient then: Does she feel like it broke the cycle she’s had with Mortensen?
“Yeah, I feel like it helped,” she says. “Obviously things — [we’re] within the process of the show, I can’t speak on it yet. But you’ll see it all unravel.”
ABC’s Sunday telecast of the 98th Oscars averaged 17.9 million viewers, ending a four-year streak of audience increases.
The figure from Nielsen is down 9% from the 19.7 million viewers who watched the telecast on ABC and Hulu in 2025.
After ratings for the Oscars cratered to an all-time low of 10.5 million viewers in 2021, the event’s audience levels ticked back up in recent years.
But the show has not topped 20 million viewers since 2019, as younger viewers are content to watch highlights of the ceremony on social media, rather than sit through a three-hour-plus telecast on traditional TV.
The awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood honored “One Battle After Another” for best picture, Michael B. Jordan for lead actor in “Sinners,” and Jessie Buckley for lead actress in “Hamnet.” Conan O’Brien was the host for the second straight year.
Critics said the ceremony was light on political statements about President Trump, whose name was not mentioned during the telecast. The show’s highlight was an extended “In Memoriam” segment that gave extra tribute to legendary actor and filmmaker Robert Redford and slain actor, director and producer Rob Reiner.
ABC had success in selling out the commercials for the Oscars, which is perennially the most watched non-sports telecast of the year. But the network will only have the event for two more years as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose to take a better financial offer from YouTube for the rights to the telecast starting in 2029.
O’Brien poked fun at the YouTube move. He closed with a video that shows him being appointed Oscars “host for life.” As he takes in the honor, poison gas seeps into the office he is given. After O’Brien’s lifeless body is wheeled out, a name plaque with a new host is put on the door. His successor is YouTube star Mr. Beast.
Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, one of the top Democrats running for California governor, on Friday blasted USC and the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles for hosting a debate that he argues purposely excludes all candidates of color.
Becerra said he and the other candidates were excluded from the televised debate unfairly, a decision that he said “smells of election rigging” in a hotly contested race less than three months before the June primary.
“My father used to tell me of the days when he would encounter signs posted outside establishments that read ‘No Dogs, Negroes or Mexicans Allowed,’” Becerra wrote in a public letter to USC President Beong-Soo Kim. “USC’s actions may not seem so transparent. But, you have deliberately chosen to selectively filter the voters’ view of the field of gubernatorial candidates in what all observers characterize as a wide-open race.”
The university said in a statement that it authorized a political expert to create the formula to determine who would be included in the debate.
“At the request of the Center for the Political Future, Dr. Christian Grose, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, independently established the methodology that determined eligibility for the debate,” according to a statement from the center. “No one in the USC administration had any role in developing, reviewing or approving those criteria.”
The center later said in a statement on Friday that it reiterated the criteria that determined which candidates were invited to participate in the debate, and that nothing had changed since the forum was first planned.
The criteria for gubernatorial candidates to participate considered opinion polling and campaign fund raising. Six candidates were asked to participate in the March 24 debate, which is cosponsored by ABC7 Los Angeles and Univision.
There was conflicting information about USC’s stated criteria, however. The methodology says that the fundraising totals considered were based on semi-annual reports campaigns filed with the California Secretary of State’s office. However, the document later says that the fundraising figures also includes large donations that campaigns are required to immediately report.
This is a critical difference, because San José Mayor Matt Mahan did not enter the race until late January, and thus far has not been required to file any semi-annual fundraising disclosures with the state. However, he has received significant donations since he entered the race.
Mahan agreed with Becerra, saying that he ought to be part of public forums about who will lead the state.
“The former Secretary is absolutely correct, he should be included in the debate,” Mahan said in a statement. “His long record of service to California has earned him a place on every debate stage in this campaign for Governor.”
USC officials said they are clarifying how they selected candidates to participate in the race.
“We are reissuing the criteria to make clear that they include current fundraising totals, including semi-annual and late reports, which were always part of the formula,” the Center for the Political Future said in a statement. “We are not changing the criteria. We have updated even as of today and the rank order includes the same top 6 candidates.”
Grose said that the selection of candidates was based upon polling and fundraising numbers, and that the sentence about semi-annual fundraising reports was inaccurate.
“It was just a wording issue. It’s not a methodology issue,” he said.
Six candidates are scheduled to appear at the debate: Republicans Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton; and Democrats Northern California Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, billionaire hedge-fund founder Tom Steyer and Mahan.
The kerfuffle occurs after Democratic candidates of color accused state party leaders of trying to oust them from the race in favor of white candidates, who have more support in opinion polls.
In addition to Becerra, other prominent Democratic candidates excluded from the debate include former state Controller Betty Yee, state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who also condemned the candidate-selection formula.
“Californians deserve a fair process, and voters deserve to hear from all qualified voices,” Villaraigosa, who taught public policy at USC for three years after leaving office, said in a statement. “But this biased and bigoted action by USC to manipulate the data to exclude every qualified Black, Latino, and API candidate in favor of a less qualified white candidate is shameful.”
Becerra said USC went to great lengths to justify the candidates that were excluded, but the bias was clear.
“You can’t escape the detestable outcome: you disqualified all of the candidates of color from participating while you invited a white candidate who has NEVER polled higher than some of the candidates of color, including me,” he said.
Becerra was clearly referring to Mahan, who recently entered the race and has received millions of dollars of support from Silicon Valley leaders. Becerra noted that veteran GOP strategist Mike Murphy, co-director of the USC Center for the Political Future, which is a sponsor of the debate, is assisting an independent expenditure committee backing Mahan.
Murphy said he had recused himself from anything involved in the debate, and that he was a volunteer for the outside group backing Mahan. If he becomes a paid advisor to the independent expenditure committee, he said he has requested unpaid leave from the university through the June 2 primary.
“I’ve been transparent that I’m personally a Mahan supporter,” Murphy said. “I’ve had zero to do with the debate.”
The big question surrounding last year’s Academy Awards was whether the show would address the L.A. wildfires, which had rattled the city mere months prior.
This year, the elephant in the room is the ongoing Iran war, which like last year’s wildfires, puts a celebration like the Oscars in sharp relief. But for Conan O’Brien, balancing gravity and levity is part of his job description as host.
“My job is to always try and hit this very, very thin line between entertaining people and also acknowledging some of the realities,” O’Brien said during a Wednesday news conference with the Oscars creative team.
“It’s a dance that goes on up until the show begins,” the former talk show host said, adding that he and his team of writers are still revising material ahead of the show to ensure their content is as relevant as possible.
“Between us,” he said, referencing Oscars telecast executive producers Katy Mullan and Raj Kapoor, “we will find the right tone.”
O’Brien also during the news conference recalled Johnny Carson’s turn hosting the Oscars during the Iran hostage crisis, when 52 Americans, including diplomats and other personnel, were held hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran from 1979 to 1981. The comedian remembered the television host parodying ABC’s “Nightline” with his joke, “It’s day 444 of the Oscars.”
“It was such a funny, topical joke that touched on something everyone was thinking about, and at the same time, got a big laugh and was unifying,” O’Brien said. “That was meaningful to me.”
Kapoor said during the news conference that the production team is putting systems in place to alleviate attendees’ safety concerns amid the tense global situation and reported threats to California.
“Every year, we monitor what’s going on in the world,” the showrunner said, adding that the ceremony has the support of the FBI and LAPD. “This show has to run like clockwork.”
He added, “Everybody that is coming to this show, that is witnessing this show, that is even a fan of the show when they’re standing outside the barricades — we want everybody to feel safe and protected and welcome.”
As for the telecast’s creative direction, the team cited “human touch” as a unifying theme — a not-so-subtle slight to AI.
“We’re celebrating human touch, human connection and what I like to call actual intelligence, as opposed to artificial,” said music director Michael Bearden. “We want to get back to the communal … and so the music will reflect that.”
That spirit of celebration will be especially tangible in the “KPop Demon Hunters” performance, Kapoor said. That performance will be complemented by a “Sinners” moment featuring Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq as well as guests Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith.
“We have this lovely story celebrating Korean culture with authentic Korean drummers and singers and even choreography,” the producer said. “So again, we’ve expanded our reach, and we’re telling these global stories, celebrating international films that have had a global impact and doing things in a really different way.”
Mullan and Kapoor closed the news conference by teasing a pair of reunions featuring cast members from “Bridesmaids” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Bridesmaids” alum Rose Byrne is nominated for a lead actress Oscar for her role in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” which marked O’Brien’s dramatic acting debut. (If Byrne wins, he said, “half that Oscar’s mine.”)
“We’re gonna have superstars, superheroes, and there is also going to be an extraterrestrial on the stage, so you can figure that one out,” Mullan said.
The 2026 Oscars will air live Sunday on ABC, with streaming available on Hulu, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and FuboTV.
