Jimmy Kimmel is considering retirement once again.
Kimmel hosted The Oscars for the third time in 2023
And he took many brutal swipes that have the internet in a spin.
So much so that he’s been branded a national disgrace by some.
“Thes jokes go way too far!” one viewer commented.
It’s safe to say he threw major shade at Will Smith!
And that wasn’t the only target of Kimmel’s cruel jokes.
Scroll on to see more…
It was one of the craziest Oscars moments in history.
Rock pleaded that it was only a ‘GI Jane joke’, but Smith was having none of it, shouting back after slapping him: “Keep my wife’s name out your f****** mouth.”
Smith was subsequently banned from the Oscars.
In the aftermath of the slap Rock’s mom has hit back on the ban, saying that her son is doing well but still ‘processing’ the incident.
“I told someone, when Will slapped Chris, he slapped all of us, but he really slapped me. When you hurt my child, you hurt me,” Rose Rock told WIS.
When she was asked what she would say to Smith, she said: “I have no idea what I would say other than, ‘What in the world were you thinking?’ Because you did a slap, but so many things could have happened. Chris could have stepped back and fallen. You really could have gotten taken out in handcuffs. You didn’t think. You reacted to your wife giving you the side-eye, and you went up, and you made her day because she was bowled over laughing when it happened.”
However, according to the Hollywood Reporter, Rock spoke out about the incident…
Will Smith has eternally been slammed by others in the hip hop industry, and Rock only added to the fire with his apparent comment to Dave Chapelle.
Chapelle said to Rock: “At least you got smacked by someone of repute! I got smacked by a homeless guy with leaves in his hair.”
That’s when Rock replied with:
“I got smacked by the softest n**** that ever rapped.”
After Smith gave Rock a smack across the cheeks, Smith was subsequently banned from the Oscars for ten years.
And Rock has revealed that he won’t be returning to his hosting duties.
A video posted on Instagram by Smith addressed a series of questions about ‘slap gate’ on social media which had been left unanswered…
Smith was asked why he did not apologize to Rock in his acceptance speech, but it seemed like Smith was still in shock himself after his own actions.
“I was fogged out by that point. It’s all fuzzy. I have reached out to Chris, and the message that came back is that he is not ready to talk and when he is, he will reach out.
“So I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable, and I am here whenever you are ready to talk,” he said.
Rock wasn’t the only person Smith apologized to.
In the video, he mentioned his mother, father, and brother and apologized to them too, who witnessed the slap.
“I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and complexities of what happened in that moment.
“And I’m not going to try and unpack all of that right now, but I can say to all of you that there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment,” he added.
“There is no part of me that thinks that’s the optimal way to handle feelings of disrespect or insults,” Smith said.
Many people speculated that his wife, Jada Smith, had some part in this.
However, Smith denied any claims that his wife had anything to do with him getting up on stage and slapping Rock.
“No, I made a choice on my own, from my own experience and my history with Chris.
“No, I made a choice on my own, from my own experience and my history with Chris. Jada had nothing to do with it,” he confessed.
After apologizing to Rock and his family, he took the time to apologize to his wife…
“I’m sorry babe, and I want to say sorry to my kids and my family for the heat that I brought on all of us,” he said.
Rock opened up about why he decided not to host The Oscars again next year…
During a show in Phoneix, Arizona, on August 28, the comedian said he was offered to host the show once again.
However, he turned down the offer.
Rock gave an analogy to explain why he would never go back to host the Oscars anymore.
He referenced the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, according to Arizona Republic, telling the crowd at Arizona Financial Theatre that going back to the Oscars would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant” where she left her glasses before being killed.
And now, the comedian has finally addressed the joke he made at the Oscars.
For those who need a reminder, the joke Rock said at the Oscars was, “Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.”
Rock was referencing Jada shaved head.
And as we all know, not everyone in the crowd was too happy with the joke.
Jada has been vocal about her struggles with alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that causes bald spots and hair loss.
After delivering the infamous slap that was heard around the world, Smith returned to his seat, where he shouted, “keep my wife’s name out of your f**king mouth.”
Smith has since apologized 3 times — first, after he accepted his Oscar for his role in King Richard, then again in an Instagram post before his public apology video last month.
But it seems like Rock isn’t having any of it.
Rock previously addressed the incident with fellow comedian Dave Chapelle on his tour in the UK.
In one of the shows, Chapelle asked Rock whether the slap hurt or not.
Rock responded by telling the crowd at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena: “God damn right… the motherf***er hit me over a bulls**t joke, the nicest joke I ever told.”
“A lot of people forget who Will Smith is. Then 10 minutes before he was about to get the biggest award… he acted like he was back in Philadelphia,” he said.
And it seems Smith has remained a topic of conversation as Rock’s European tour continues.
On September 3, Rock was joined by Chappelle at London’s O2 Arena.
Rock reportedly kicked things off on stage by addressing a video that had surfaced online of Smith…
It was the apology he posted on YouTube back in July.
In the video, Smith said that the situation was “all fuzzy” and recalled his apology to Rock…
But Rock hit back and said: “F**k your hostage video.”
He admitted that “s**t hurt,” and added: “He played Ali. I can’t even play Floyd Mayweather.”
Shortly after, Rock referred to Smith as controversial hip-hop figure Suge Knight who is currently in prison with a twenty-eight-year sentence.
As per reports, he continued to call the actor “Suge Smith.”
Chappelle also took to the stage, where spoke about the moment Rock was attacked…
“That was some scary s**t,” Chappelle said.
He then told Rock to always be himself, unlike Smith, who “did an impression of a perfect man for 30 years.”
“I just hope he doesn’t put that mask back on,” Chapelle added.
A Netflix special explored the controversy further…
Rock’s one-hour Netflix set, performed from the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, featured jokes about the slap.
The title of the comedy special, Selective Outrage, made it clear Smith was front and center of the focus.
And this year, it’s Jimmy Kimmel who hosted the Oscars.
But it’s clear that the slap is still at the front of everyone’s minds!
And it was a major part of Kimmel’s opening monologue.
He joked that with five Irish actors nominated this year: “Means the odds of another fight on stage just went way up.”
“If any person in this theatre commits an act of violence, you will be awarded best actor and be allowed to give a 19-minute speech.” he joked.
“I think the decision to go with a champagne carpet, rather than a red carpet, shows how confident we are that no blood will be shed.”
And there was another viral moment from Kimmel’s hosting that divided the internet.
And it involved none other than Malala.
Kimmel asked: “Your work on human rights and education for women and children is an inspiration.
“As the youngest Nobel prize winner in history, I was wondering, do you think Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine?”
Malala replied: “I only talk about peace.”
Kimmel then joked: “You know what, that’s why you’re Malala and nobody else is. That’s a great answer, Malala. The winner is Malala-land, everybody.”
Malala then took to Twitter to post the clip, adding: “Treat people with kindness.”
One commenter replied: “Jimmy Kimmel is a national disgrace. This woman deserves better.”
Another added: “Utterly disrespectful and patronising behaviour towards her and her work. It was the same cringe feeling and reaction from the Smith Slap.”
Do you think the joke went too far?
Now, Jimmy Kimmel is considering leaving TV completely
The talk show host told the Los Angeles Times in Feb 2024 that he thinks his current Jimmy Kimmel Live contract “is my final contract.”
“I hate to even say it, because everyone’s laughing at me now — each time I think that, and then it turns out to be not the case,” Kimmel said in the new interview. “I still have a little more than two years left on my contract, and that seems pretty good. That seems like enough.”
As acknowledged by Kimmel, he has openly gone back and forth between continuing and ending his long-running show, which has been on the air for 21 years now.
In 2023, he revealed that he’d been “intent on retiring right around the time” the Writers Guild of America strike started and all late-night shows went off the air.
“And now, I realize that it’s kinda nice to work,” Kimmel said at the time.
Now, however, Kimmel noted that he’s juggling a lot while doing Jimmy Kimmel Live and gearing up to host the Oscars for the fourth time.
“It’s hard to yearn for it when you’re doing it,” he said.
“Wednesday night, I was very tired and I had all these scripts to go through — I had to revise and rewrite all these pitch ideas for the Oscars — and I was literally nodding off onto my computer,” Jimmy explained.
“In those moments, I think, ‘I cannot wait until my contract is over.’ But then, I take the summer off or I go on strike, and you start going, ‘Yeah, I miss the fun stuff,’” he continued.
The last dance
If he actually does retired at the end of this contract, Kimmel has a few ideas for his final monologue.
“He speaks Italian, he plays the harmonica beautifully. He is an expert fly-fisherman,” he joked.
“It’s funny, whenever I think of what I’m going to do when I stop working, it all involves more work.”