Tony Hawk makes case for why he's well qualified as Oscars presenter

Monday's announcement by the Academy that this year's Oscars presenters will include music producer DJ Khaled, surfer Kelly Slater, snowboarder Shaun White, and skateboard legend Tony Hawk was greeted coolly by some, particularly as it came after the revelation that West Side Story star Rachel Zegler has not been invited to attend the big night. As film producer and critic Scott Weinberg tweeted, "So the lead actress in West Side Story didn't get an invite to the movie awards, but Tony Hawk and DJ Khaled did?" Author, former EW editor, and notable Oscar-watcher Mark Harris riffed on both the Academy's desire to attract young viewers and the age of the 53-year-old Hawk when he tweeted that, "Young people who don't watch the Oscars have loved Tony Hawk ever since they read his December 2020 interview in AARP The Magazine!"

Rich Fury/Getty Images Tony Hawk

Hawk in turn has hit Twitter to make the case that he does deserve to be grabbing his tux on March 28.

"If being in every Jackass movie, xXx, Police Academy 4 and Sharknado 5 doesn't qualify me to present at the Oscars, then your taste in movies needs readjusting," the skateboarder wrote on Twitter.

While Hawk may have been having a little fun with his tweet, the truth is that he drastically underplayed the length, if not necessarily the Oscar-worthy nature, of his filmography. The skateboarder's many other film credits include the Josh Brolin-starring Thrashin', Gleaming the Cube, Lords of Dogtown, and The New Guy. Hawk also acted as Peter Fonda's stunt double during the tsunami sequence from John Carpenter's 1996 film Escape from L.A. How many of this year's other Oscar presenters (a list which includes Lady Gaga, Kevin Costner, and Rami Malek) can say the same? Zero!

Watch that sequence from Escape From L.A. below.

EW's countdown to the 2022 Oscars has everything you're looking for, from our expert predictions and in-depth Awardist interviews with this year's nominees to nostalgia and our takes on the movies and actors we wish had gotten more Oscars love. You can check it all out at The Awardist.

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