The former Fox News host Megyn Kelly is speaking out to slam the “classless” Jimmy Kimmel for the way he hosted the Oscars on Sunday night after he used the show to shamelessly bash Donald Trump. Kelly fired back by torching Kimmel and bringing up his documented history of blackface.
Kelly Eviscerates Kimmel
Though Kimmel initially avoided politics while hosting the Oscars, he took a shot at Trump at the end of the show after the former president bashed his hosting style on social media.
“Thank you, President Trump,” Kimmel said, according to CBS News. “Thank you for watching. I’m surprised you’re still up. Isn’t it past jail time?”
This didn’t sit well with Kelly, who fired back at Kimmel on her eponymous SiriusXM talk show.
“He found time to take a shot at Trump, he found time to take a shot at Katie Britt, he did not find any time to make fun of Joe Biden who is the sitting president of the United—I just guess there’s no fodder there, nothing to joke about,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s guest Andrew Klavan, a conservative political commentator, responded by saying that Kimmel “just following what the news media is doing.” He added that he was surprised that Kimmel never mentioned President Joe Biden, who had just given “the worst State of the Union address in my lifetime,” which he called “ugly and divisive.”
Related: Trump Rejoices After ‘Loser’ Jimmy Kimmel Suggests He May Be Retiring From Late Night
Kelly Brings Up Kimmel’s Blackface History
Earlier in the show, Kelly criticized the Oscars audience, “who laughed and curried favor with the man who wore blackface so many times, he’s second only to Justin Trudeau in his fondness for the practice.”
Kelly went on to say that the Hollywood stars “absolutely ate up the performance by Hollywood darling Mr. Kimmel” even though “some of the very same celebrities who wanted you to believe they were horrified — horrified — after yours truly said in 2018 that people used to don dark makeup to imitate well-known black celebrities and it wasn’t a big deal.”
The New York Post reported that this was a reference to Kimmel wearing blackface to portray the black Utah Jazz star Karl Malone in a skit on “The Man Show” back in the 1990s. He also wore dark makeup to portray Oprah Winfrey in another skit. In contrast, Kelly was fired by NBC in 2018 after she simply weighed in on those wearing blackface, saying that “in the 70s/80s, it used to be viewed differently.”
“Obviously Kimmel’s love of blackface was not a deal-breaker for ABC — which already employs him as a late-night host and which, in addition to its many blackface awards shows, also produced and promoted many shows and stars in blackface,” Kelly lamented.
“It appears the real sin with blackface, you see, is talking about how standards on it have changed, not actually wearing it,” she continued. “You can still win Oscars and host the Oscars after doing that.”
Check out her full comments on this in the video below.
Kelly Rips Kimmel For Robert Downey Jr. Joke
Kelly also ripped into Kimmel for a joke he made at the expense of Robert Downey Jr., who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar on Sunday night for his work in Oppenheimer.
“This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr’s career… well, one of the highest points,” Kimmel said during the opening monologue. When Downey Jr. responded by tapping his nose in a sign of recognition, Kimmel asked: “Was that too on the nose or a drug motion you made?”
A visibly annoyed Downey Jr. reacted to this by signaling Kimmel to move on from the joke.
“What Kimmel did last night, was he tried to mock people’s weaknesses and things they had genuinely fought hard to overcome, like he did to Robert Downey Jr, who wound up being a favorite of the night,” Kelly said.
“But before he won Best Supporting Actor for Oppenheimer, Kimmel, in his opening monologue, decided to take a shot at—everyone knows about Robert Downey Jr’s long history with drugs and alcohol,” she continued. “It’s something no one celebrates but he needs to be given credit for overcoming.”
After Kelly played a clip of the exchange, she added, “What was that? That was just classless.”
Kelly concluded by comparing the way Kimmel hosted the Oscars to the way the British comedian Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes on five separate occasions in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2020, according to Newsweek.
“Last night, one of the things I think stood out about Kimmel’s hosting was, he didn’t get it. The reason Ricky Gervais did so well when he hosted those Golden Globes and just eviscerated everyone in that room is because he was making fun of them on things that we knew were true,” Kelly explained.
“Y’know kind of, their abuse of their own power, their self-importance and that kind of thing and he was punching up, which is okay,” she stated.
Check out Kelly’s full comments on this in the video below.
The hypocrisy of Kimmel and the rest of Hollywood never ceases to amaze, and good for Kelly for calling them all out. No wonder the Oscars has been struggling to get anyone to watch for years!
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