Jimmy Kimmel is getting ready to suit up to host the 2023 Oscars, which has him reminiscing on Oscars of years past.
When Kimmel, 55, hosted the Oscars for the first time in 2017, the wrong winner for Best Picture was announced in what he called “a very intense and confusing end to what was otherwise a pretty great night.”
But while at the time that might have seemed like the most dramatic Oscars ever, Kimmel still can’t get over what happened at last year’s Oscars: the slap heard around the world.
Will Smith, 54, slapped 94th Academy Awards presenter Chris Rock, 58, after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair — which Smith took as a jab at his 51-year-old wife’s struggle with alopecia. The tone-deaf comment inspired the actor to hustle up to the Los Angeles Dolby Theatre stage and smack Rock in the face.
“It’s still shocking that that happened,” the late-night talk show host told People. “To see something like that happen outside of like ‘The Maury Povich Show‘ is shocking. And then for it to happen on the Oscars magnifies it by about a million times.”
He continued, “I think it’s something that everybody regrets and that we will move past. One day it will be looked at in the same way as that guy running onstage naked is looked at: a weird moment that we all talked about and we hopefully learn from.”
Kimmel shared that he hasn’t talked to Smith, but he has spoken to Rock — and he applauds the comedian for how he handled it.
“I mean, to be slapped in the face and to stay that cool is something that Chris should be proud of,” Kimmel said. “Chris’ grandchildren, I hope, will still be proud of that when he’s dead and gone.”
