Academy Awards 2017: Host Jimmy Kimmel pokes fun at new world under Donald Trump | Hollywood - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Academy Awards 2017: Host Jimmy Kimmel pokes fun at new world under Donald Trump

ByReuters, Los Angeles
Feb 27, 2017 09:53 AM IST

Academy Awards 2017 host Jimmy Kimmel poked deadpan fun at US president Donald Trump’s travel ban on Monday with an opening monologue. HE capped it with a deliberately back-handed tribute to perennial Oscar nominee Meryl Streep.

Comic Jimmy Kimmel opened Sunday’s Oscars show seeking to break the tension among jittery nominees by poking deadpan fun at the political tumult roiling the United States and the globe during President Donald Trump’s early weeks in office. Check out our live blog on the ceremony here.

Host Jimmy Kimmel walks on stage at the Oscars on Monday.(AP)
Host Jimmy Kimmel walks on stage at the Oscars on Monday.(AP)

“This broadcast is being watched live by millions of Americans, and around the world in more than 225 countries that now hate us, and I think that is amazing,” the late-night television star exclaimed shortly after stepping onto the stage of the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

Admitting he was at a loss in using his Oscar platform to help unite a divided country, Kimmel exhorted viewers to make an effort at reconciliation by reaching out to political adversaries they knew personally and to “have a positive, considerate conversation, not as liberals or conservatives, as Americans.”

Watch: Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue

“If we could all do that, we could make America great again,” he said, an allusion to Trump’s own campaign slogan.

After segueing into a gag about trying to heal his long-running faux rift with actor Matt Damon, Kimmel turned back to Trump with a sly parallel between the criticism both the president and the Oscars have taken for a perceived lack of racial sensitivity.

“I want to say, ‘Thank you, President Trump,’“ he said. “I mean, remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?” he asked rhetorically in a reference to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy that clouded the Academy Awards in 2016.

The joke drew hearty laughter and applause from the star-studded audience in the hall, recognizing a renewed measure of racial balance in the awards after two straight years in which all the major acting categories shut out nominees of colour.

Kimmel capped his monologue with a deliberately back-handed tribute to perennial Oscar nominee Meryl Streep, whose fiery denunciation of Trump from the stage of the Golden Globe Awards in January drew an angry Twitter retort from Trump calling her “one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood.”

Meryl Streep gestures to the crowd at the 89th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday. (Reuters)
Meryl Streep gestures to the crowd at the 89th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday. (Reuters)

“From her mediocre early work in The Deer Hunter and Out of Africa to her underwhelming performances in Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie’s Choice, Meryl Streep has phoned it in for more than 50 films over the course of her lackluster career,” Kimmel declared.

He then noted that Streep stood Oscar-nominated for the 20th time in her career - as best actress for Florence Foster - before asking her to stand up and take a bow to a standing ovation. “The highly overrated Meryl Streep, everyone,” he said.

The pointed political barbs stood in sharp contrast to the breezy opening song-and-dance number led by Justin Timberlake, performing the Oscar-nominated song Can’t Stop the Feeling” from the animated film Trolls. The performance brought the celebrities in the theater to their feet dancing.

Justin Timberlake performs in the audience at the Oscars on Monday. (AP)
Justin Timberlake performs in the audience at the Oscars on Monday. (AP)

As the assembled nominees and other stars took their seats again, Timberlake welcomed Kimmel out to the stage. “Oh good, I got a sitting ovation,” Kimmel remarked dryly. “This is my first time here, and the way you people go through hosts, it’s probably my last time here. So I’m going to enjoy this while I’m here.”

Kimmel, 49, was tapped to host the Oscar telecast, widely regarded as the most thankless job in Hollywood, after two stints as master of ceremonies for television’s Primetime Emmy Awards, most recently in 2016. He also has hosted the American Music Awards.

A 14-year veteran of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he is the third star of late-night broadcast TV to preside over Hollywood’s highest honors, following in the footsteps of Johnny Carson of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and Kimmel’s personal hero, David Letterman, then host of the CBS Late Show.

Oscars 2024: From Nominees to Red Carpet Glam! Get Exclusive Coverage on HT. Click Here

Get more updates from Bollywood, Hollywood, Music and Web Series along with Latest Entertainment News at Hindustan Times.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On