Andy Cohen Blames Children for Bad Oscars

Here at Movieline HQ, we've thrown haymakers of blame at James Franco (and poor Anne Hathaway) for what was the worst Oscars ever. Apparently, though, our outrage was misplaced. According to Bravo senior vice president of original programming and development Andy Cohen, the fault for the unbearable ceremony on Sunday night rests squarely on the tiny shoulders of adorable singing children.

Speaking on Morning Joe earlier on Tuesday morning, Cohen put the choir from P.S. 22 directly in his haterrific crosshairs.

Excuse me, I love public school children -- I am a child of public school education in St. Louis, Missouri. There was a thing called 'Up With People' in the '70s or '80s. Here's what Oscar night is not about: 'Up With People.' Like, I don't need to see that. It was just bad. It was just awful. It was horrible. A public school chorus singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I literally -- if I wasn't going to go out to some parties I would have slit 'em right then. It was the worst. I was looking for a knife to stick in my eyes, it was so terrible. [...] We don't want to see this. It just ruined everything.

So there you go Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer. If you're hired back to produce the 2012 telecast, make sure to keep singing kids as far away from the Kodak Theater as possible. James Franco, too.

· Andy Cohen Criticizes P.S. 22 Singers at Oscars [NYT/City Room]