Film

Jimmy Kimmel’s Oscars Monologue Took On Hollywood Sexual Harassment And Donald Trump

He took on sexual harassment in Hollywood, Mel Gibson, Donald Trump and the industry's diversity problem.

by Osman Faruqi  5 March 2018
Oscars

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The most (only?) memorable party of last year’s Oscars was the now infamous Moonlight/La La Land fiasco, which left everyone looking extremely silly. Yet, for some reason, the Academy has decided to bring back Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway to present Best Picture this year.

Similarly inexplicable is the return of Jimmy Kimmel as host, who kicked off this year’s awards by riffing off 2017’s Best Picture mishap.

“This year when you hear your name called, don’t get up right away. Just give us a minute,” he warned nominees, in his opening monologue.

Kimmel, who hosted last year’s ceremony as well, is a safe choice. His perpetually harmless demeanour means he’s able to walk the line between saying things that sound kind of edgy but are actually just a softer rehashing of what everyone’s been saying for the past 12 months.

But, all that said, he did manage to pull off a few solid jokes in his opening address, while covering quite a few topical political issues.

“What happened with Harvey [Weinstein] and what’s happening all over is long overdue,” Kimmel said, mentioning that Weinstein had been expelled from the Academy. “If we can work together to stop sexual harassment in the workplace, if we can do that, women will only have to deal with that every other place they go.

“I remember a time when the major studios didn’t believe a woman or a minority could open a superhero movie… and the reason I remember that time is because it was March of last year.”

Kimmel also found time to reference both Donald Trump and Vic President Mike Pence. “None other than President Trump called Get Out the best first three-quarters of a movie this year,” Kimmel said. And then: “We don’t make films like Call Me by Your Name to make money. We make them to upset Mike Pence.”

The host wrapped up his monologue by encouraging award winners to make speeches about whatever issues were close to their hearts, including the recent school shooting in Florida. But he also asked for speeches to be kept short, offering a jet ski, presented by Helen Mirren, to the winner who gave the shortest acceptance speech of the night.

You can watch the full monologue here: