Jimmy Kimmel seems like a safe bet as Oscar host – the audience likes the late-night host and he knows the stars well. But at the 2024 Oscars, his jokes weren’t well received by everyone. Even in the audience, some actors seemed uncomfortable.
While his words about the “Barbie” snub sounded well-chosen and intended to comfort both director Greta Gerwig and actress Margot Robbie, some sayings went a little too far. Robert Downey Jr, for example, had to listen to a lot. The actor, who a short time later won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, was indirectly asked by Jimmy Kimmel about his drug past, the “highest point in his career”.
Robert Downey Jr remained professional and smiled away the comment, but still made a gesture indicating that Kimmel should quickly get on with his monologue. This was followed by an equally untasteful comment: “Is that an acceptance speech in your pants or do you just have a rectangular penis?” None of this went down well on X (formerly Twitter):
Oscars 2024: Jimmy Kimmel makes tasteless joke about “The Zone of Interest”
In his opening monologue, the late-night host also said: “For the first time ever, three foreign language films are nominated for ‘Best Film’, two of them with Sandra Hülser in the lead role. Sandra plays a woman on trial for the murder of her husband in Anatomy of a Case and a Nazi housewife living near Auschwitz in The Zone of Interest. While these are very difficult topics for American filmgoers, in Sandra’s home country of Germany they are called romantic comedies.” Here, too, the audience was more murmured than laughed – and Hülser smiled away the saying in pain.
Donald Trump also criticizes Jimmy Kimmel
It was Kimmel’s fourth time hosting the Oscars. The 56-year-old was already there in 2017, 2018 and 2023. But during the show he said a few words to Donald Trump, who had also commented on the comedian online.
“Guess which former president wrote this? “Isn’t it past your jail time?” Kimmel taunts, referring to the time and the current allegations against Trump.
After all, the presenter can still get a few good laughs here.