TOO LATE

Jimmy Kimmel Says He Was Told Not to Read Out Trump’s Critical Post at the Oscars

The former president posted to Truth Social mid-ceremony to complain about the “boring” ceremony and Kimmel’s lackluster hosting skills.

In the middle of the Oscars telecast on Sunday night, Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t resist reading aloud a Truth Social post in which Donald Trump slammed the “boring” ceremony and Kimmel’s try-hard hosting skills. He revealed after that the live-reading went explicitly against the advice of the show’s organizers. “They’re like, ‘You’ve got a little bit of time’ and I was like, ‘I’m reading the Trump tweet,’” Kimmel told Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos at their post-show Live special. “And they’re like, ‘No, no, don’t read that.’ [I was like] ‘Yes I am.’” The veteran Oscars host read Trump’s post out close to the show’s end, emerging onstage to announce he’d just received a “review.” After sharing the post—but not the identity of the poster—with the audience, Kimmel remarked, ““Blah, blah, blah, make America great again. OK now, see if you can guess which former president just posted that on Truth Social. Anyone? No?” He then thanked Trump for watching. “I’m surprised you’re still—isn’t it past your jail time?” the late night funnyman asked, drawing laughter and cheers from the crowd.