This year's Oscars ceremony will be anything but business as usual

It looks from the outside like business as usual.

The teams are busy preparing the Dolby Theatre site on Hollywood Boulevard to host some of the most famous people in the world, the billboards are up announcing the show on the 4th March, the red carpet is being rolled out later.

But despite the Oscars organisers calling for their show to focus on celebrating the last year, there’s an element of damage control right up to the last minute.

The withdrawal of last year’s best actor Oscar winner Casey Affleck from Sunday’s show where he was due to present the best actress award as is tradition, has on the face of it removed a potentially embarrassing moment for the organisers.

The actor has faced sexual harassment claims in the past and he has removed himself from Sunday’s show to avoid being a distraction in the wake of the #metoo and Time’s Up campaigns.

But really his absence only serves to remind us of the tumultuous period Hollywood is in post-Weinstein.

Now harassment claims have resurfaced about Ryan Seacrest, an Oscars red carpet presenter, in his role with E!, the cable channel. He has continually denied the allegations, but his presence on the red carpet will at the very least raise eyebrows.

He has continued to present his pre-Oscars shows each morning this week - but what will happen on the day as actors walk the carpets wearing their Time’s Up badges?

There has been no call for nominees to wear black and bring activists with them to the show, as with the Golden Globes and Baftas.

But despite the Oscars organisers hopes, politics will never be far from the podium. Sexual harassment, racial and gender diversity, pay inequality - there is simply too much going on.

This year also expect speeches about gun control in the wake of the Parkland school massacre. There’s even rumours some of the teenagers might show up. And that one of Weinstein’s early accuses Ashley Judd might present one of the awards.

This could have been a year when a marked improvement in the diversity of the nominations was the sole talking point - see the presence of black actors and directors in the main categories, a female, Greta Gerwig, nominated for best director - only the 5th to get the accolade - and the first Oscars nomination ever for a female Cinematographer, Rachel Morrison.

This can only get better, with the changes to the Oscar voters to improve diversity, seemingly showing dividends.

But instead I suspect the Oscars team will just be focussing on getting to the end of the show without any major controversies - and that includes opening the right envelope to announce the correct Best Film winner.