Jimmy Kimmel and Donald Trump spar during Oscars show
Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel engaged former president Donald Trump in real-time during the 96th Academy Awards presentation.
Kimmel said toward the end of Sunday’s show he’d just received a “review” he wanted to share during the live broadcast. The ABC host was referring to a social media post by Trump insulting Kimmel’s performance as it was happening in Los Angeles.
“Has there ever been a worse host than Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars?” Kimmel said onstage while reading Trump’s Truth Social from his phone. “Blah, blah, blah… make America great again.”
Kimmel gave his audience a moment to process what he’d read, then rhetorically asked if they could “guess which former president” posted that message online.
“Thank you, President Trump,” Kimmel continued. “Um, thank you for watching. Isn’t it past your jail time?”
The star-studded crowd responded with thunderous applause.
Trump, who’s been found liable for fraud, defamation and sex abuse since leaving office in 2021, is awaiting trial on more than 90 felony indictments.
Despite the 45th president’s opinion, Kimmel’s emceeing was generally well received.
Veteran journalist Maria Shriver called his performance “funny, calm, creative, and pitch-perfect” noting that hosting award shows is a generally thankless gig.
Horror author Stephen King tweeted, “It’s been a really good show so far” about an hour into the program.
Former Barack Obama campaign strategist and senior advisor David Axelrod responded “ouch” after Kimmel mocked the former president.
Right-wing influencer Catturd offered a MAGA rebuttal on X.
“This triggered little loser Jimmy Kimmel,” the social media personality wrote alongside a copy of the Trump statement Kimmel mocked.
Kimmel claimed he was asked backstage not to read the former president’s social media post during Sunday’s Academy Awards presentation.
“Yes I am,” he said during an interview with Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos that aired Monday morning.
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