Jimmy Kimmel fires back after Trump slams 'boring' Oscars: 'Isn't it past your jail time?'
After former President Donald Trump took to social media to weigh in on the 2024 Oscars, host Jimmy Kimmel launched into a seemingly impromptu "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets" segment on the Sunday telecast.
"Doing this show is not about me. And I appreciate you having me. It's really about you and Emma (Stone) and all these great actors and actresses and filmmakers," Kimmel told the crowd as the 3 ½-hour show was winding down. "But I was told we have, like, an extra minute, and I'm really proud of something. I was wondering if I could share it with you. I just got a review."
He went on to read Trump's Truth Social post, which the former president shared less than an hour prior.
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It read, "Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars. His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be."
The post continued, "Get rid of Kimmel and perhaps replace him with another washed up, but cheap, ABC 'talent,' George Slopanopoulos. He would make everybody on stage look bigger, stronger, and more glamorous. Also a really bad politically correct show tonight, and for years - Disjointed, boring, and very unfair.
"Why don’t they just give the Oscars to those that deserve them. Maybe that way their audience and TV ratings will come back from the depths. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
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Kimmel gave up on reading the rest of the message after Trump's reference to George Stephanopoulos – who hosts ABC's "This Week" and co-hosts "Good Morning America" – saying, "He would make everybody on stage look bigger, stronger and more glamorous, blah blah blah. Make America great again."
"See if you can guess which former president just posted that on Truth Social?" Kimmel said. "Thank you, President Trump. Thank you for watching. Isn't it past your jail time?"
After Kimmel got this one last dig in, Al Pacino took to the stage to announce who won the best picture Oscar Oppenheimer took home the top prize, bringing the Christopher Nolan blockbuster to seven wins for the night.
In August, Trump became the first former president to have his mug shot taken when he was booked in Georgia on charges that he attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Trump faces more than 90 felony counts in cases ranging from mishandling classified documents to trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election to falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to an adult film actress. The Republican presidential frontrunner pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Last month, Trump and his business trust were ordered to pay $453.5 million in penalties and interest after a New York judge ruled Trump had spent years fraudulently inflating the value of real estate holdings, including his own Trump Tower penthouse and his private club in Florida.
Prior to that, in January, a federal jury in Manhattan ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll in a defamation case stemming from Carroll's allegation that he sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s. Trump has appealed both cases.
Contributing: Aysha Bagchi, Olivia Munson