Now that it was offically announced that super A-Lister producer Brian Grazer – co-founder and co-owner of Imagine Entertainment with Ron Howard – will produce next year's 84th annual Oscar show, replacing Brett Ratner (who was fired by the Academy but claimed he resigned as a cover), this question has been going around: will Eddie Murphy come back after he quit as host of the show, in the wake of Ratner's leaving? 

Since Grazer and Murphy are friends, and Murphy has appeared in several films produced by Imagine such as the recent Tower Heist, Bowfinger, The Nutty Professor movies, and the TV series The P.J.'s, there was hope that Murphy would return as host. But the answer is NOPE!

Though Grazer has publicly said that he would like Murphy to return, he's already making plans to get a new host. Several names are being rumored, with Neil Patrick Harris being a favorite choice, though nostalgia freaks are hoping for a return of Billy Crystal, who, for some reason, is considered a comedy god, though he hasn't appeared in a film in the last 42 years. (At least Harris was in The Smurfs and all those Harold and Kumar) movies.

The fact of the matter is that Murphy's leaving has angered A LOT of people in the industry who felt that it was totally unprofessional, though Murphy most likely doesn't care.

If you ask me (and you didn't but I'll tell you anyway) my choice would be Ricky Gervais. After his scalding and brilliant hosting job at the Golden Globes, I would love to see him burn that Oscar show down to the ground and give those pretentious jerks what they deserve.