Jimmy Kimmel jokes about ‘the slap’ and introduces celebrity ‘crisis team’ in Oscars monologue

By Scottie Andrew, CNN

Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel kicked off the show by introducing some unofficial members of the ceremony’s “crisis team” to prevent any unexpected outbursts — and the crew included the Mandalorian, a Spider-Man and Steven Spielberg.

Kimmel nodded to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock throughout his opening monologue, joking that if anyone in the audience “commits an act of violence,” they’d be “awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give a 19-minute-long speech.” (Smith won best actor for his role in “King Richard” last year, shortly after he slapped Rock for making a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.)

“If anything unpredictable and violent happens during the ceremony, just do what you did last year — nothing,” Kimmel said.

He then named a few celebrity members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “crisis team,” from Michael B. Jordan in character as Adonis Creed to Michelle Yeoh, showing off the moves that made her famous in Hong Kong martial arts films. Also in the lineup were Pedro Pascal (currently starring in “The Mandalorian” and “The Last of Us,” the latter of which is airing its final episode on Oscars Sunday), and, hilariously, Andrew Garfield, grinning and shrugging when Kimmel shouted out his performance as one of a number of live-action Spider-Men. And finally, Kimmel said, there was “Fabel-Man” — Spielberg, who raised his brow at the camera.

“There’ll be no nonsense tonight,” Kimmel concluded. “No time for shenanigans.”

And there wasn’t — there were very few surprises during this year’s ceremony. Kimmel celebrated at the end of the show with a sign that read “number of Oscars telecasts without incident.” He gladly flipped the number on the board to one.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.