Wanda Sykes Jokes Hosting the Oscars Will ‘Cost’ Her Money

Hosting the Oscars is a pretty big deal, but Hollywood insiders say the job doesn’t pay very well.

Wanda Sykes is part of the trio of hosts who will be leading the 94th Academy Awards. She’ll be joined by Regina Hall and Amy Schumer as emcees of Sunday night’s telecast.

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Sykes currently stars in and co-created Netflix comedy series The Upshaws, and she has several other projects in the works. During a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, previous Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel told Sykes she’s “being robbed” by signing up to host the Oscars.

Sykes agreed and said the job is actually going to “cost” her money. She began by revealing this year’s Oscars producer, Will Packer, reached out and asked her to co-host the telecast.

“I was like, ‘Uh, I guess I gotta say yeah, right?’ You have to say yes,” Sykes explained. “Then I realized that out of all the jobs that I have, this one is actually gonna cost me money.”

Kimmel agreed and asked her how much she would be getting paid. “I don’t even know it’s, like, scale probably,” Sykes responded, referring to the SAG-AFTRA union minimum.

“It’s less than that,” Kimmel informed her. “I got paid $15,000 to host the Oscars. And there’s one of me! You guys will probably have to split all that… You know, it sounds like a lot for one night, but it’s months of work leading up to it. You’re getting robbed.”

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Kimmel hosted the Oscars consecutively in 2017 and 2018.

Sykes said she was going to start drinking once the first act was done and was going to have fun during the night. She also joked that she would sell an Oscar statue for profit.

She added during the interview: “It’s not like I’m getting paid, you know. You get what you pay for. You want sober Wanda, you’ve got to add some more zeroes and move that comma. You’re getting free Wanda.”

Watch the full clip below: