Seth MacFarlane Hosting the Oscars

Family Guy, Cleveland Show, and American Dad creator Seth MacFarlane will host the 85th annual Oscar ceremony in February.

Gay producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said they were "thrilled to have MacFarlane host the Oscars. His performing skills blend perfectly with our ideas for making the show entertaining and fresh."

MacFarlane has hosted the 2010 Writers Guild awards, three of the Comedy Central roasts, and, recently, Saturday Night Live. He made his film debut with the summer R-rated comedy Ted, which starred him voicing the title character, as well as Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis.

"It's truly an overwhelming privilege to be asked to host the Oscars," MacFarlane said in a statement Monday. "My thoughts upon hearing the news were, one, I will do my utmost to live up to the high standards set forth by my predecessors; and two, I hope they don't find out I hosted the Charlie Sheen roast."

An LGBT ally, MacFarlane told The Advocate in 2008 that he has many gay people in his life, including family members and coworkers.

"A couple of years prior I had teamed up to write a pilot with two writers, both of whom were gay," he said. "One of them said that when he travels through the Midwest with his partner they have to go through this fucking dog and pony act when they stop at a hotel and the guy behind the counter says, "You want one room or two?" They have this charade where they'll say to each other, "Is one room OK with you?" "Yeah, I'm cool with that if you are." "Yeah, no big deal, we'll just take one." That was one of many conversations I had with them where I thought to myself, Why is it that Johnny Spaghetti Stain in fucking Georgia can knock a woman up, legally be married to her, and then beat the shit out of her, but these two intelligent, sophisticated writers who have been together for 20 years can't get married? It's infuriating and idiotic. I'm incredibly passionate about my support for the gay community and what they're dealing with at this current point in time. I have arguments with people where I get red in the face, screaming at the top of my lungs."