Jimmy Kimmel Proves Again That He Needs To Be Replaced as Go-To Oscars Host

Jimmy Kimmel once again took the stage as host for the 96th Academy Awards and proved for the second year in a row that the Oscars badly needs a new go-to host.

This year’s Oscars marked the second time in a row and the fourth time overall that Kimmel has been tapped to host the prestigious awards ceremony. Each year, the announcement of his hosting draws a collective groan and raises questions if there truly is no other option besides the talk show host. After all, very few of his Oscars hosting gigs have gone by without incident.

In 2017, he was accused of making body-shaming jokes during his monologue, directed at Matt Damon and women in the audience. That was also the same year La La Land was mistakenly announced as Best Picture winner instead of Moonlight. While the mix-up wasn’t Kimmel’s fault, his reaction to the incident raised eyebrows as he stepped up to the mic and announced he wanted to give the award to La La Land anyway. Last year, at the 95th Academy Awards, Kimmel was slammed for bothering Malala Yousafzai in the audience. The Nobel Peace Prize winner was in attendance as executive producer of Oscar nominee Stranger at the Gate when Kimmel bizarrely chose to go up to her and inquire about her opinion on Don’t Worry Darling’s “spit-gate” while calling her Malala Land.

So, it was hardly a surprise that he instantly began trending on social media during the 96th Academy Awards for being a terrible host.

Jimmy Kimmel slammed for unfunny and distasteful Oscars jokes

Kimmel’s hosting job wasn’t the worst this awards season, though the bar was very low after Jo Koy’s sexist monologue at the Golden Globes. While he didn’t delve into the offensive territory of Koy, he did alternate between unfunny, immature, and outright distasteful jokes for almost the entire night. He started off his monologue joking about Robert Downey Jr.’s penis, making an incest joke about Bradley Cooper dating his mom, and joking that Christopher Nolan writes his scripts with no internet connection because of his porn addiction. Kimmel also joked about the length of Killers of the Flower Moon and claimed that Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Internet are called “rom-coms” in Germany.

These jokes were more juvenile than offensive. It’s as if he was trying to be “edgy” but didn’t quite know how, so he resorted to adolescent jokes about porn and penises. However, he was just warming up with these groan-inducing jokes.

Kimmel later made a tasteless joke about Poor Things that was a bit reminiscent of Koy’s sexist Barbie jokes. After a clip of Poor Things concluded, Kimmel quipped, “Those were all the parts of Poor Things that we’re allowed to show on TV,” insinuating that the rest of the movie is just sex scenes. It is a gross simplification of Poor Things, a movie about a woman with the brain of a literal infant that explores the concept of self-discovery and one woman’s denial of societal standards. Additionally, it was one of the most nominated films of the night and earned Emma Stone her second Oscar for Best Actress.

After the joke, the camera cut to Stone to see her reaction, and she was caught shaking her head and rolling her eyes. She also mouthed something to her partner, with some viewers being convinced she called Kimmel a “prick.” Meanwhile, most of the internet is siding with her that Kimmel’s “joke” was rude and uncalled for.

Then, the cherry on top was Kimmel going on for what felt like forever about Downey’s past substance abuse. He commented that Downey is at the highest point of his career, but then backtracked to say, “Well, one of the highest points.” Downey took the joke in stride, putting his finger on his nose. However, Kimmel continued, asking, “Is that a drug motion?” Finally, Downey made a rolling motion, clearly telling Kimmel to move on from the drug jokes already.

The actor’s story of struggling with substance abuse before getting clean and making one of the biggest comebacks in Hollywood is well-known. However, it is also well-known that Downey doesn’t like being interrogated on his past, once walking out on a 2015 interview when the questions got too personal. It certainly wasn’t a topic that needed to be brought up on the night he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Kimmel did have a handful of funny moments, such as when he directed jokes at Donald Trump and Katie Britt, who genuinely deserved to be the butt of his jokes, or when he called out the Academy for not nominating Greta Gerwig for Best Director. However, those moments are easily lost in a sea of completely classless, disrespectful, and immature jokes. Imagine attending one of the biggest nights of your life just to hear Kimmel joking about your past struggles or trampling on your movie.

Kimmel’s Oscars performance doesn’t just reiterate that the awards show needs a new go-to host but that the whole awards show industry is in very bad need of reform in the hosting area, given that monologues like Koy’s and Kimmel’s were allowed to go through in the first place.

(featured image: Kevin Winter / Getty)