As of writing, the Oscars is still without a host - and Whoopi Goldberg won't be swooping in to do it, either.

As sh*tshows go, this year's Oscars is registering pretty higher on the sh*tshow scale.

However, the manner in which Kevin Hart's hiring and subsequent firing / stepping aside / whatever has been so spectacularly mishandled that you have to wonder why anyone would want to host the Oscars in the first place.

All that said, rumours kicked off less than a couple of days to go that Whoopi Goldberg was planning - in secret, mind - to take over as host on the night. The theory began when journalist Peter Knegt posited that Golbderg's absence from her weekly show, 'The View', was intentional and related to the Oscars.

Goldberg has hosted the Oscars four times already and 'The View' is also an ABC show, the same TV channel that's broadcasting the Oscars. Throw on the fact that she actually said in December that she'd be up for taking over after Hart stepped off the plate and you've got yourself a fine-looking conspiracy theory.

Well, not a day went by when 'The View' hosts Joy Behar and Meghan McCain put a stop to the rumours, and categorially denied the story on air.

Take a look.

Just to put the nail in the coffin, ABC representatives told TVLine around the same time that speculation surrounding Goldberg was "absolutely false" - so there's that as well.

With less than five days to go to the ceremony, airdropping in Whoopi Goldberg to host would be in keeping with this year's Oscar propensity for making last-minute f*ck-ups.

If it does turn out that Goldberg is actually hosting, the audible groaning from the internet is going to deafen us all. We'll have full coverage, reaction and analysis on this year's Oscars first thing Monday morning, so keep an eye out for that.