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" Following the news earlier this week that Eddie Murphy had stepped down as host of the 2012 Academy Awards, we invited Digital Spy users to take part in a poll to choose their preferred host for next year&amp;#039;s Oscars ceremony. The results are now in, and whether it was in spite of or because of the controversy he generated hosting this year&amp;#039;s Golden Globes, 27.1% of you chose comedian Ricky Gervais as the best person for the job. How I Met Your Mother actor Neil Patrick Harris, who hosted this year&amp;#039;s Tony Awards, polled in second place with 13.9% of the vote, followed by Tina Fey with 11.4% of votes. Whoopi Goldberg and Ellen DeGeneres made up the top five, followed by Billy Crystal. The actor - who was confirmed as Murphy&amp;#039;s replacement on Thursday evening (November 10) - received 5.3% of your votes. A number of you told us about your own suggestions in the comments section - with choices including one-time DS Icon Betty White, Charlie Sheen, The Muppets, Bette Midler and Zach Galifianakis. The full list of results from Digital Spy&amp;#039;s Oscars poll is as follows:   Ricky Gervais - 27.1%  Neil Patrick Harris - 13.9%  Tina Fey - 11.4%  Whoopi Goldberg - 8.9%  Ellen DeGeneres - 6.1%  Other - 5.5%  Billy Crystal - 5.3%  Hugh Jackman - 4.3%  Jim Carrey - 4.6%  Steve Carell - 3.2%  Ben Stiller - 2.6%  Jon Stewart - 2.0%  Oprah Winfrey - 1.5%  Steve Martin - 1.4%  Conan O&amp;#039;Brien - 1.2%  Alec Baldwin - 1.1%  Watch Digital Spy&amp;#039;s recent interview with Ricky Gervais and the stars of An Idiot Abroad below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/oscars/news/a350339/oscars-poll-result-digital-spy-users-choose-ricky-gervais-as-host/>