It’s Official: Chris Rock Will Host The 2016 Oscars

UPDATE: Multiple sources including Deadline and Variety have confirmed that Chris Rock will indeed be hosting the 2016 Oscars. The appearance will mark his second time playing ringmaster at the Academy Awards ceremonies. Rock previously hosted in 2005.

Rock himself also made it official:

Previously: It’s not even Oscar season and already speculation is flying that Chris Rock may be hosting the 2016 Academy Awards. Vanity Fair reports that Rock is in the middle of “serious talks” regarding the position, and that an official announcement one way another will be surfacing very soon.

The current official position of the Academy Awards is “No comment,” and Rock himself has yet to spill the beans over any of his active social media accounts. For our own sake, Okayplayer has taken an official position of “Big, if true.”

Rock previously hosted the Oscar awards in 2005 and has worked with Academy Awards co-producer Reginald Hudlin in the past on his since-cancelled TV show Everybody Hates Chris. Rock has kept things interesting in the past twelve months with the release of his hilarious self-examinating comedy Top Five, a brief tirade on baseball, a directing gig on Amy Schumer‘s new HBO special and most recently a radio sit-down with Dave Chappelle, Q-Tip and…Leonardo DiCaprio. Your man’s been busy, to say the least.

The 88th annual Oscars will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Feb. 28, 2016.

H/T: Vanity Fair