Jimmy Kimmel reacts to wild Donald Trump demand at the Oscars: ‘Yes, I am’

Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel ignored advice to not to read a post by Donald Trump criticising his performance. Read the former president’s savage message.

Oscars 2024 host Jimmy Kimmel’s opinion trumped the advice of the award show’s organisers Sunday night.

Somebody in charge told him not to read aloud a post by Donald Trump criticising his performance at the 96th Academy Awards when he had an extra minute to fill near the end of the ABC broadcast, Kimmel said in an interview Monday, New York Post reports.

“They’re like, ‘You’ve got a little bit of time’ and I was like, ‘I’m reading the Trump tweet,’ and they’re like, ‘No, no, don’t read that,” he told Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.

“[I was like] ‘Yes I am.”

The former president and current candidate wrote on the social media platform: “Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars. His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be. “Get rid of Kimmel and perhaps replace him with another washed up, but cheap, ABC ‘talent,’ George Slopanopoulos.”

Host Jimmy Kimmel read aloud a Truth Social post written by Donald Trump that criticised him. Picture: Kevin Winter

The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” star, 56, recited the mini-review onstage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and then shot back with a jab of his own.

“I’m surprised you’re still [up],” he said. “Isn’t it past your jail time?”

Earlier in his monologue, Kimmel mocked a slew of celebs.

“This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.’s long and illustrious career. Well, one of the highest points,” he said of the Best Supporting Actor winner’s drug problems during the 1990s.

And he poked fun at 80-year-old “Killers of the Flower Moon” star Robert De Niro’s love life.

“In 1976, Jodie Foster was young enough to be Robert De Niro’s daughter,” Kimmel said, referring to her role in the film “Taxi Driver.”

“Now, she’s 20 years too old to be his girlfriend.”

Trump wrote: ‘Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars.’ Picture: Elijah Nouvelage

During the ceremony, it appeared that Best Actress winner Emma Stone whispered in annoyance about Kimmel to her husband, Dave McCary, after Kimmel made a crack about the many sex scenes in her movie.

“Those were all the parts of ‘Poor Things’ we’re allowed to show on TV,” he said.

After hosting for the second time in 2019, Kimmel told a Television Critics Association panel that the job is a “f***ing nightmare.”

“I did not think I would ever do it again,” Kimmel told the Los Angeles Times, adding that eventual Best Picture loser “Barbie” changed his mind.

“I am sitting in a movie theatre watching ‘Barbie’ and thinking, ‘Well, maybe I’ll do this again because at least I have a point of reference with everyone,” he said.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and has been republished with permission

Originally published as Jimmy Kimmel reacts to wild Donald Trump demand at the Oscars: ‘Yes, I am’