Yahoo News “Isn’t It Past Your Jail Time?”: Jimmy Kimmel Gets In A Dig At Donald Trump After Former President Calls Him Worst Oscars Host
With a minute or so to kill before the end of this year’s Oscars, Jimmy Kimmel read out a review of his performance as host of the Oscars.
Kimmel read the social media post from his phone, “Has there ever been a worse host than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars. His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be. Get rid of Kimmel and perhaps replace him with another washed up, but cheap, ABC ‘talent,’ George Slopanopoulos. He would make everybody on stage look bigger, stronger, and more glamorous. Blah. Blah. Blah. Make America Great Again.”
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What Kimmel was reading was an actual Truth Social post from Donald Trump. The former president called the show itself “a really bad politically correct show” and “disjointed, boring and very unfair.”
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Kimmel’s reaction to the bad review: “Thank you President Trump. Thank you for watching. I’m surprised you’re still ah…isn’t it past your jail time?” The audience cheered.
(WATCH) Donald Trump drags Jimmy Kimmel's hosting and Kimmel responds | #Oscars pic.twitter.com/VAiQ6Ga0cA
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 11, 2024
The punchline was actually one of the few partisan moments of the Oscarcast, despite Trump’s complaints. Kimmel made a fleeting joke about Sen. Katie Britt’s much panned State of the Union response, but otherwise directed his monologue to quips about the nominees. But Trump has long been a critic of the Oscar ceremony, including when he was president.
Most of the political remarks and statements instead were focused on global conflict, including the war in Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas, while there was also a tribute to the subject of last year’s documentary feature winner, Navalny.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing,” read the quote from Alexei Navalny, just before the In Memoriam segment.
Mstyslav Chernov, director of documentary feature winner 20 Days in Mariupol, told the audience, “I’m honored, but probably I will be the first director on the [Oscar] stage who will say, I wish I would never make this film. I wish to be able to exchange this [for] Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities.”
He added, “I wish to give all the recognition to Russia not killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians. I wish for them to release all the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails. But I cannot change the history, cannot change the past. But we all together, among you, some of the most talented people in the world, we can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail and that the people of Mariupol and those who have given their lives will never be forgotten.”
Outside the ceremony, there were pro-Palestinian protests, delaying the arrival of some attendees, while some of the nominees wore pins signifying the calls for a ceasefire. But on stage, it was Jonathan Glazer, the director of The Zone of Interest, winner for best foreign language feature, who made the most direct remarks about the conflict. The movie is set outside the walls of Auschwitz during the Holocaust.
“Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?”
“All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say look what they did then, rather look what we do now.… Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst, it’s shaped all of our past and present,” Glazer said.
His remarks came right around the same time that President Joe Biden released a statement marking the start of Ramadan. With the conflict in Gaza creating serious fissures on the left, Biden has tried to navigate steadfast support for Israel with calls for a six week ceasefire as part of a deal that includes Hamas’ release of Israeli hostages. The president also announced that the military would establish a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza to receive large shipments of aid.
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“As Muslims gather around the world over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front of mind for many,” Biden said. “It is front of mind for me.”
The serious statements during the Oscarcast were a reminder of the gravity of the world situation, despite a show that had its share of sillier moments. But that, too, was keeping with the tone of this year, when Barbie and Oppenheimer dominated at the box office after creating a sensation by going head-to-head on a July opening weekend.
In the end, it was Oppenheimer, focused on man’s capability to bring about the end of the world, that dominated the Oscars, and its winners had some of the ceremony’s final words.
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As he won best actor for Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy said, “We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or worse, we are all living in Oppenheimer’s world. So I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”
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