Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is all set to host the Oscars for the fourth time and he has already been battling controversy. The comedian recently starred in a promo for the Oscars with the cast of Barbie and reportedly received flak for choosing to promote one film over the other nominees. Kimmel’s promo reportedly irked other Best Picture nominees.
Barbie was the highest-grossing film of the year and broke many records. The film has been nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay among others. The film was also part of the Barbenheimer movement during its release, where it was the subject of a meme that clubbed it with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
Jimmy Kimmel Responds To Barbie Oscar Promo
The nominations for the Oscars were announced in January 2024 by Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid, with Oppenheimer leading the nominations. While its competitor Barbie won at the box office and became the highest-grossing film of the year, it seemed to have fallen behind Oppenheimer during the Awards season. Fans were waiting for a Barbenheimer 2.0 with both films competing for Best Picture.
Hopping on the bandwagon, an Oscars promo with the theme of Barbie was released a few weeks ago. The promo sees a lost Jimmy Kimmel in Barbieland trying to find his way to the Oscars. The comedian runs into Kate McKinnon’s weird Barbie who guides him through the Best Picture nominees to reach the ceremony. Oscar nominees Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera also reprise their roles from the film in the promo.
While the promo was loved by many fans, many of the other nominees reportedly took issue with the importance given to Barbie in the promo. Jimmy Kimmel mentioned to The Deadline that he was aware of the issue and that he did not care for it much. He said,
“I heard that [complaint] too. I haven’t heard that, specifically, from anyone, but you know, if a promo is going to tip the scales, as far as voting, for Best Picture, then I don’t know, maybe people’s convictions should be a little bit stronger, you know? I don’t really think that that’s going to have any impact on who people actually vote, but people do like to complain.”
Kimmel then went on to say how it was one of the charms of the Oscars as diverse opinions were thrown around. He also mentioned that he felt sorry for the producers of the show as they had to deal with such criticisms every year.
Jimmy Kimmel Hosts The Oscars For The Fourth Time
Jimmy Kimmel will be returning to host the Oscars for the fourth time on March 10. The talk show host and comedian made his Oscar debut in 2017, a ceremony which was known for the infamous La La Land-Moonlight goof-up. Kimmel returned again the next year and had his third gig with the Academy in 2023.
With the upcoming ceremony, the comedian ties in with Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon on the number of times hosted. Kimmel mentioned to The Deadline that he usually watches all the nominees in most categories to prepare for hosting the ceremony. He said that he did not test his monologue and material in comedy clubs as they would not relate to the setting but rather tested them on his colleagues who had attended the ceremony before.
Kimmel mentioned in an interview with The Deadline about why he was attracted to return to the Oscars,
“It’s like when people say, ‘This guy is the Michael Jordan of this,’ these are ‘the Oscars of the chemical engineering world,’ you know? They don’t say, ‘This is the Golden Globes of the chemical engineering world.’ This is the Oscars, and so there’s so much history associated with it, and there’s so much glamour associated with it, but it’s why it makes it particularly puzzling for me that I’ve been involved with it so many times.”
Jimmy Kimmel also mentioned that he decided to agree to return as a host as it was an eventful year with popular films getting nominations and due to the SAG and WGA strikes coming to an end.
