2023 Oscars: Jimmy Kimmel Makes Subtle Dig at Will Smith
The comedian kicked off the show the best way he knows how.
Jimmy Kimmel did not hold back.
On March 12, the late-night host, 55, hosted the 95th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif. As this wasn't Kimmel's first time hosting the notable award show—he previously helmed the Oscars in 2017 and 2018—he pulled all the right punches, including a dig at last year's infamous slap involving Will Smith and Chris Rock.
Kimmel flew his way into the Oscars on a fighter jet, just like the one Tom Cruise was seen flying in Top Gun: Maverick. Once he landed he kicked off his first joke of the night, poking fun at Nicole Kidman, quipping that she was held captive in an abandoned AMC theater–referring to the ad she starred in for the company.
Kimmel also poked fun at Seth Rogen and Steven Spielberg, who were seen sitting next to each other, calling them the Joe and Hunter Biden of Hollywood. He even quipped that Rogen was on mushrooms during the ceremony and teased Spielberg for stating that he's never smoked weed–not even during the making of E.T.
The host gave a quick shoutout to Rihanna and her son, who was "pooping" backstage, stating that the last person who pooped backstage was the "accountant that messed up the envelopes," referring to the time La La Land was announced as Best Picture instead of Moonlight.
And of course, Kimmel brought up the infamous slap without mentioning any names, stating that the Oscars have put protocols in place to keep him safe.
"The Academy has a crisis theme in place, if anything unpredictable or violent happens during the ceremony, just do what you did last year, do nothing," he quipped, adding that if a joke makes anyone mad and they want to get "jiggy with it" they will have to go through stars like Everything, Everywhere, All At Once actress Michelle Yeong, Creed actor Michael B. Jordan, Spiderman actor Andrew Garfield, and The Fabelmans actor Judd Hirsch.
Heading into the 2023 Oscars, Kimmel made it clear that he was ready for anything to happen. "If somebody comes up on the stage and slaps me? Well, I size them up, and, if I’m bigger than they are, I beat the s--t out of them on television," he quipped to The Hollywood Reporter in March. "And if it’s the Rock, I run."
In all seriousness, he was unfazed about his monologue plans, adding, "I’m in a unique position in that my job is to make fun of people in Hollywood and then to have them sit next to me on the stage. And I’ve had 20 years of practice as far as balancing that stuff out goes."
The evening's audience included big stars, such as nominees Austin Butler, Angela Bassett, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Kimmel also noted that the best hosting advice he got came from Billy Crystal, who told him to "play to the room."
"You always have to be conscious of the audience at home and make sure they understand what’s going on," he said of hosting the Oscars, "but you also want to get laughs in the room — and if you don’t get that, it’s not going to play well for people watching on TV."
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