Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel didn’t waste any time taking a jab at Will Smith at Sunday’s ceremony, which took place a year after the actor slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 show.
Kimmel quipped about the infamous moment during his opening monologue at the 95th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
“We want you to have fun, we want you to feel safe, and most importantly, we want me to feel safe,” Kimmel joked. “So, we have strict policies in place. If anyone in this theater commits an act of violence at any point during the show, you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give a 19-minute-long speech.”
Smith slapped the presenter Rock on stage over a joke about the shaved head of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Pinkett Smith suffers from the hair-loss condition alopecia. Smith, who won best actor for “King Richard” shortly after the incident, has since been banned from the Academy Awards for a decade.
“The Academy has a crisis team in place,” Kimmel said Sunday. “If anything unpredictable or violent happens during the ceremony, just do what you did last year: Nothing. Sit there and do absolutely nothing. Maybe even give the assailant a hug.”
Sunday marked the third Oscars hosting gig for Kimmel and first since 2018. He famously emceed the 2017 ceremony where Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty erroneously named “La La Land” best picture instead of the actual winner, “Moonlight.”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the breakout indie hit about a high-stakes journey across alternate dimensions, led all films at the 2023 Oscars with 11 nominations. The night’s early winners included “Everything Everywhere” stars Ke Huy Quan for best supporting actor and Jamie Lee Curtis for best supporting actress. Both were first-time nominees.
“This is the American dream!” the Vietnamese-born Quan said during a tearful acceptance speech.
The science-fiction spectacle entered Sunday’s show as a favorite in the best picture category, where other nominees included Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical “The Fabelmans” and the big-budget blockbusters “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water.” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Martin McDonagh’s dark dive into a damaged friendship, was also among the 10 best picture finalists, as were Baz Luhrmann’s musical biopic “Elvis” and Netflix’s anti-war epic “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” received nominations as well for Michelle Yeoh for best actress and the filmmaking duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for best director.
The best director race generated controversy after no women were nominated. Kwan and Scheinert, known as The Daniels, were joined in the category by Spielberg, McDonagh, Todd Field for “Tár” and Ruben Östlund for “Triangle of Sadness.” The all-male field followed best director wins for Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland” in 2021 and Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog” last year.
Kimmel also referenced that scandal as he spoke about speculation “Avatar” filmmaker James Cameron skipped the show because he wasn’t nominated for best director.
“How does the Academy not nominate the guy who directed ‘Avatar’? What do they think he is, a woman?” Kimmel said.
Yeoh entered the show with a chance to become the first Asian woman to win best actress. She was the first woman who identifies as Asian to be nominated in the category. A 1936 nominee, Merle Oberon, had Sri Lankan heritage but kept her ancestry private throughout her life.
The 2023 Oscars booked big-name performers including Rihanna, who revealed her second pregnancy during her Super Bowl halftime show last month, and Lady Gaga, who was a last-minute addition. Rihanna’s aspirational anthem “Lift Me Up” from Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is nominated for best original song, as is Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick.”
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