During the live airing of the Oscars on Sunday, host Jimmy Kimmel revealed he had received pressure from producers to refrain from reading out Donald Trump’s negative social media post about him and the awards show.
Shortly before the end of the event, Kimmel shared a portion of Trump’s message on Truth Social, which was posted by the ex-president a little while ago. Trump criticized Kimmel, labeling him as the worst host for the Oscars. He also stated that Kimmel’s opening was that of someone trying too hard to be something they’re not, and will never be. Trump also described the show as disconnected, uninteresting, and highly biased before ending with his signature slogan, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Kimmel expressed gratitude to Trump for tuning in, then inquired, “Hasn’t your sentence already been served?”
Kimmel revealed after the show that producers had attempted to dissuade him from reading out Trump’s post. Speaking to Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos for Live with Kelly and Mark after the show, Kimmel said that the Oscars’ producers had spoken to him about the message. “I was like, ‘I’m reading the Trump tweet,’ and they’re like, ‘No, no, don’t read that.’ [I said:] ‘Yes I am.’”
During his own talk show, Kimmel shared that the producers were also worried about the controversial stunt featuring a nude John Cena, which was meant to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Robert Opel’s streak in 1974. Kimmel stated: “Out of all the times I’ve hosted the Oscars or the Emmys or anything, no comedy sketch has ever been scrutinized as much as this one. There were numerous meetings, emails, texts, and phone calls with people tense and even crying. Eventually, we refused to back down and there were intense conversations about the size of the envelope, whether to attach it to John’s body with Velcro, or to fill in his buttocks or use socks. They kept insisting on a bigger envelope.”
He stated, “It is uncommon for an idea to truly push boundaries, but this one did.”
Kimmel also added more thoughts about Trump, stating: “This really speaks volumes about Donald Trump … He wrote this because he was unhappy that I didn’t mention him on the show. But in reality, no one mentioned him at all. He was craving attention and couldn’t handle being ignored […] I had no intention of bringing him up on the show. But while we were backstage and the show was almost over, one of the other writers showed me the tweet. As Al Pacino said, just when I thought I was done, they pull me back in. I had no choice but to read it.”
He stated, “Even with John Cena appearing unclothed on stage, Donald Trump remained the most unpleasant person of the evening.”
Source: theguardian.com
