Jimmy Kimmel Addressed The Will Smith Oscars Controversy With All-Star Defenses
We all knew that host Jimmy Kimmel would have to say something about "the slap" from last year's Academy Awards ceremony, but the jokes were thankfully pretty tame and gave some of the celebs in the audience a moment to shine. During his opening monologue, which ranged from "moderately funny" to "excessively cringe," he addressed the moment when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars by joking about the changes the Academy made to the ceremony to prevent that kind of thing from happening. Not only did he promise that they had a "crisis team" backstage to take care of any unexpected violence, but he was well-protected by a whole bunch of fierce fighting guests in the front few rows.
Kimmel pointed out the bizarre reaction from last year's events, as the shocked guests stayed in their seats and mostly just stared with their mouths agape. It's understandable that the audience was stunned into silent discomfort, but the Academy themselves didn't seem to know how to handle the ordeal, especially when Smith won the Best Actor award and got up on that same stage to accept it. Kimmel joked that if anyone takes offense to something he says, they "will be awarded the Oscar for Best Actor and be allowed to give a 19 minute speech." Smith was subsequently banned from the Oscars for a decade, but Kimmel moved on fast in order to point out all of the heavy hitters between a potential attacker and his spot onstage.
A butt-kicking audience
While there's certain to be more jokes at Smith's expense peppered throughout the night, at least the ones in the monologue segued into a look around the audience at some of the folks who might be able to kick a little butt. Kimmel joked that "if any of you get mad at a joke and decide you want to come up here and get jiggy with it, you're gonna have to go through my friends," then listed them by a mix of their real names and the characters they play. He pointed out that anyone who tries to get up on stage has to go past Adonis Creed (Michael K. Jordon of the "Creed" films), Michelle Yeoh (a bonafide martial arts goddess), and The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal from, you guessed it, "The Mandalorian"). They're all pretty up to taking on a potential fighter, but his next pick, Spider-Man, didn't look so keen. Andrew Garfield shrugged and made a funny face when the camera panned to him, and it works because of Garfield's self-effacing charisma.
Spider-Man wasn't the only "Man," though, because Kimmel also pointed out that an attacker would have to get through "Fabel-Man," aka Steven Spielberg, the writer and director of the Academy Award-nominated "The Fablemans." He also shouted out his "right-hand man, Guillermo," and the camera cut to Guillermo Del Toro, who went on to win for Best Animated Picture only a few minutes later. The beloved director isn't much of a fighter, though, so the moment seemed weird until the camera cut over to Kimmel's comedian friend and former security guard, Guillermo Rodriguez.
No one better try to climb that stage, or they're going to be in a world of hurt.