Jimmy Kimmel reprised his role as host of the Academy Awards Sunday evening as he stepped on stage to head up the 90th iteration of the awards show. Naturally, the comedian, actor and late-night talk show host had plenty of tricks up his sleeve when he delivered his opening remarks before the crowd of Hollywood’s finest, touching on everything from the Donald Trump administration, the #MeToo movement, Harvey Weinstein, and the infamous slip up that eclipsed last year’s show.
“What happened last year was unfortunate,” Kimmel remarked, addressing the moment in which the film “La La Land” was announced as the winner for the Best Picture when it was the indie film “Moonlight” that had actually won the honor.
According to Jimmy Kimmel, the Oscars producers wanted him to do a comedy bit with the PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants who tally the votes every year. “I said, ‘No, I don’t want to do comedy with the accountants.’ And then the accountants went and did comedy on their own,” he quipped.
Kimmel’s humor was also sprinkled into his addressing of the sexual harassment conversation in Hollywood, directly referencing Harvey Weinstein who was expelled from the Academy following the string of allegations of his sexual harassment and misconduct.
“What happened with Harvey and what’s happening all over is long overdue […] If we can work together to stop sexual harassment in the workplace, if we can do that, women will only have to deal with that every other place they go.”
In his speech, he also shouted out the ones making an impact in the name of diversity in film, including Get Out director Jordan Peele and the cast of Marvel’s Black Panther.
“Ceilings have been shattered […] Our plan is to shine a light on a group of outstanding and inspiring films, each and every one of which got crushed by Black Panther this weekend.
Watch the full clip below.
