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Ariana DeBose said she never foresaw herself hosting the Tony Awards but, after Sunday’s ceremony, she’s open to taking a step back from the gig.
“I am really craving being back on stage, in a larger way than simply hosting the Tonys,” the Academy Award and Golden Globe winner told People magazine.
“And for that reason, this will probably be one of the last times I host for a while, so someone else can hold the ropes.”
DeBose hosted the award show in 2022, 2023 and will MC the occasion again this weekend at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater in New York.
She told People that every year she wants to “throw up” over the task and jokingly suggested that she’s going to leave her vomit bucket for the next Tonys host.
DeBose, whose hosting gig at the 2023 BAFTAs included her meme-friendly “Angela Bassett did the thing” number, explained that she never would have thought she’d host the Tonys “in a million years.”
“And last year I was so nervous. I paced for a solid 30 minutes by myself,” DeBose said.
“I’ve never done that in the history of my performing career.”
DeBose, who was nominated for a Tony in 2018 for her role as Disco Donna in Broadway’s “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” said the nominees’ emotions are at the “forefront” of her mind while she hosts the award show.
“The nominees, they’ve been on a very long road. It is, for lack of a better word, a campaign, and it takes so much energy. A lot of times people have not slept,” said DeBose, who remarked on nominees doing interviews and appearing at events leading up to the award show.
“That’s a whole other level of stamina that is added to all of this. Watch me and you’ll see, I try to be very sensitive to that and find ways really let them enjoy themselves. Because quite frankly, they have earned it.”
The 77th Tony Awards are set to air Sunday starting at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+ with Pluto TV’s pre-show scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.