Neil Patrick Harris gets mixed response for his hosting stint

Actor Neil Patrick Harris, who hosted the song-and-dance heavy 87th Academy awards for the first time, had the critics and audience divided despite his onstage walk in undies.
Harris opened the 87th Academy Awards at Dolby Theatres, Los Angeles with a song and dance number instead of a monologue.
During the opening number, Harris performed "Moving Pictures" with Anna Kendrick, who reprised her role as Cinderella in "Into the Woods". They were joined by Jack Black who performed "The Rap" which was Meryl Streep's song in the movie.
The host, addressed on Twitter as NPH, introduced every single presenter with some kind of silly joke or pun and while some hit home others failed to induce laughter.

In the very beginning, he took a jibe at Oscars' lack of diversity amid threats from civil rights leaders to boycott the Oscars.
"Tonight we honor Hollywood's best and whitest. Sorry - brightest," Harris quipped, receiving gasps and laughter.

Seeing his funny antics on 'whites', an user wrote, "NPH pokes fun at too many white people at the Oscars... While being a white guy at the Oscars. That's a tiny bit cheap."
The 41-year-old actor stunt of stripping down to his undergarment could not match up to last year's host Ellen Degeneres' internet breaking selfie. The undie stunt was an obvious reference to Micheal Keaton's similar scene in "Birdman".

"I'm a massive NPH fan but I felt he didn't have support of the audience like Ellen did last year. Shame," a Twitter user wrote.
Harris, who presented Tonys and the Emmys, even forced "Selma" star David Oyelowo to read the punchline of a tired joke about the "Annie" remake. It did not get any laughs, and even Oyelowo signaled that he thought the joke was mediocre, sparking instant memes online.
The actor made a joke about a winner's death immediately after she dedicated her win to her son, who committed suicide. The ill-timed joke did not go well with many.

"NPH shredding that woman's outfit, immediately following her referencing her son's suicide, was ALL CLASS. #Oscars2015," a viewer wrote on Twitter.