ITV confirm Oscars presenter after Jonathan Ross was slammed over ‘painful’ coverage

ITV have confirmed that Jonathan Ross will be BACK to host coverage of this year's Oscars despite being slammed for his "painful" coverage.

The Masked Singer star and film enthusiast will be leading the celebration of all the best in Hollywood over the past 12 months.

The channel is going all out for the 97th edition of the movie awards by bringing live coverage of both the ceremony and the red carpet to screens with Jonathan taking up the hot seat.

It is the second year running that ITV will be the exclusive UK home for the glitzy contest, with coverage having previously aired on Sky.

The decision to keep chat show host Jonathan as the coverage's leading man is likely to cause a stir among fans who were left criticising his role last year.

Last year, the star was inundated with a flood of messages that branded his coverage "painful".

One fan said at the time: "Being in the UK and watching the Oscars is so hard…i just wanna watch ppl winning awards but Jonathan Ross is gonna be waffling away for 4 hours…just shrrrupp man!"

As another said: "When I asked for ITV or the BBC to air the #Oscars, I meant just the ceremony, not f**king Jonathan Ross playing bingo…"

Before a third vented: "This Jonathan Ross ITV pre Academy Awards coverage is utterly painful. Awful jokes, forced laughs from his few guests, HELL ON EARTH."

Set to air on the night of the 2nd of March, Jonathan will be keeping a close eye on the stars on the red carpet as the A-list stars strut into Hollywood's Dolby Theatre.

Lorraine star Ross King will also be on hand at the theatre to interview the actors as they make their way down the infamous carpet.

Before the big day, ITVX will be starting their coverage of the Oscars TODAY with a special live nominations launch event.

ITV News stars Lucrezia Millarini and Nina Nannar will host the Nominations Announcement at 1:10pm on the streaming site to see who could be in with a chance of winning the top prizes.

They will discuss those in contention as well as undoubtedly addressing which films have been snubbed.