Jimmy Kimmel defied advice with last minute Trump Oscars bit

Kimmel read a post from former president Trump onstage last night, against some Oscar staffers' wishes

By Emma Keates  |  March 11, 2024 | 5:55pm
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Jimmy Kimmel defied advice with last minute Trump Oscars bit
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To regular people, Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel may have come across as one of the better MCs of this year’s awards season. (Admittedly, the bar was quite low.) But to a certain very orange, very angry former president, he was the lowest of the low. “Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars,” Trump posted last night on his Truth Social app, in a real comment that was read later by Kimmel himself onstage. The post (as read by Kimmel) continued:

His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be…Also a really bad politically correct show tonight, and for years – Disjointed, boring, and very unfair. Why don’t they just give the Oscars to those that deserve them. Maybe that way their audience and TV ratings will come back from the depths. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Trump naturally didn’t specify who did deserve the Oscars in his mind, but even that didn’t bother Kimmel, who turned the screed into one of his better off-the-cuff hosting bits near the end of the show. “Blah, blah, blah… OK, now, see if you can guess which former president just posted that on Truth Social. Anyone? No?” he responded from the stage. “Well, thank you, President Trump. Thank you for watching, I’m surprised you’re still—isn’t it past your jail time?”

In a post-show rundown with Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos (via Variety), however, Kimmel revealed that some people backstage advised against the bit. “They’re like, ‘You’ve got a little bit of time’ and I was like, ‘I’m reading the Trump tweet,’ and they’re like, ‘No, no, don’t read that. [I was like] ‘Yes I am,’” he said, adding that he was “feeling pretty good” after the ceremony.

By trying to tear him down, it seems like Trump only made the four-time host stronger. According to Variety, Kimmel also joked that he’d like to host the Oscars “at least 20 more times” to beat Bob Hope’s record (19 times).

 
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