It might have been the 2023 Oscars last night, but a certain event from the year before’s awards show has still got everyone talking, especially Jimmy Kimmel.
To quickly catch you up to speed, the drama first unfolded during the 2022 Oscars, when actor Will Smith, punched Rock on stage after he made a joke about his wife Jada.
“Jada, can’t wait for G.I. Jane 2,” Rock said referring to the G.I. Jane movie that sees actress, Demi Moore, shave her head. His joke appeared to refer to Jada’s shaven hairdo, after she opened up about her experience of hair loss from alopecia.
Almost a year on, and the references to the infamous slap haven’t stopped. Host Jimmy Kimmel didn’t hold back from mentioning the incident in his opening monologue, as he took note of the amount of Irish actors nominated for awards.
“Five Irish actors are nominated tonight, which means the chances of a fight just went way up,” Kimmel joked.
“We want you to have fun, we want you to be safe and we want me to be safe.”
“If any person in this theatre commits an act of violence, you will be awarded best actor and be allowed to give a 19-minute speech.” making light of how after Rock was slapped last year, Smith was still able to later win and collect his award.
Kimmel finished by saying that if someone felt tempted to get onstage and slap him, they would have the celebrity audience to contend with. “You’re going to have to get through the heavyweight champ, Adonis Creed, you’re going to have to battle with Michelle Yeoh before you get to me … you’re going to have to tangle with Spider-Man, you’re going to have to tangle with Fabelman, and then you’re going to have to go through my right-hand man Guillermo if you want to get up to this stage.”
However, the Smith jokes didn’t end there. As he invited more guests to the stage Kimmel said, “Hopefully it goes off without a hitch. Or without Hitch. Put your hands together and then keep them to yourself for Riz Ahmed and Questlove.”
Thought he was finished? Not quite, and later on as the ceremony approached the two hour mark Kimmel quipped, “At this point in the show, it kind of makes you miss the slapping a little bit, right?”
With Will Smith being banned from the Oscars for a decade following the incident with Rock, at least he wasn’t there to listen to Kimmel’s quips himself.
