Ellen DeGeneres to host Oscars, replacing controversial Seth MacFarlane

TV host Ellen DeGeneres will host the 2014 Academy Awards, as the show's producers appear to beat a retreat from this year's racy performance.

Ellen DeGeneres in Sydney

COMIC and television host Ellen DeGeneres will host the Academy Awards for the second time.

Show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced DeGeneres' selection on Friday.

“There are few stars today who have Ellen's gift for comedy, with her great warmth and humanity,'' the producers said in a statement. “She is beloved everywhere.''

DeGeneres tweeted the news to her 21 million followers.

“It's official: I'm hosting the Oscars! I'd like to thank TheAcademy, my wife Portia and, oh dear, there goes the orchestra,'' she wrote.

In a separate statement, DeGeneres joked: “I am so excited to be hosting the Oscars for the second time. You know what they say - the third time's the charm.''

When stars and starlets take to the red carpet next March 2, DeGeneres will assume the daunting task of entertaining not only the Hollywood elite at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, but tens of millions of home viewers.

Academy Award hosts are often roasted post-ceremony, making the job one of Hollywood's toughest gigs.

Last year's host, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, drew mixed reviews for an edgy performance that included a song-and-dance number, We Saw Your Boobs, about actresses who had gone topless on screen.

Academy Awards organisers had hoped to attract a younger audience with MacFarlane, and the ratings showed they succeeded, with a one million-viewer increase on the previous year hosted by Billy Crystal. But in May MacFarlane ruled out doing a second ceremony, citing a scheduling conflict.

With DeGeneres, they went for a star that Hollywood and television viewers were familiar and comfortable with.

DeGeneres was nominated for an Emmy Award for her last time hosting in 2007.

She is best-known for her daytime series, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, now in its 10th season and her sitcom Ellen, which ran from 1994 to 1998.

Among a spate of accolades, DeGeneres received a Peabody Award and Emmy for the Ellen episode in when her character came out as a gay woman to 46 million viewers.

In recent years DeGeneres has branched into film, staring as the voice of Dory the fish in Pixar's animated feature Finding Nemo and in its sequel Finding Dory which is slated for release in 2015.

The Oscars, with 40.3 million viewers this year, is often the year's most-watched television event in the US after the Super Bowl football championship.