Will Smith's infamous Chris Rock slap isn't far from Kimmel's mind.
Jimmy Kimmel is preparing for all possibilities at the 2023 Academy Awards. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscars host reveals his plan if history repeats itself and there's another slap at this year's ceremony.
"You mean, if somebody comes up on the stage and slaps me?" Kimmel questions, before joking, "Well, I size them up, and, if I'm bigger than they are, I beat the s**t out of them on television. And if it's The Rock, I run."
The question and Kimmel's response are, of course, in reference to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at last year's ceremony. The infamous moment is one Kimmel plans to address in his monologue.
"Whatever I say about it, it's going to have to be great, right? Because so much has been said and there's so much focus on it," he explains. "I obviously don't want to make the whole monologue about that, but it would be ridiculous not to mention it."
In addition to working on plenty of talk about The Slap, Kimmel is busy carefully crafting a monologue that pokes fun at the attendees without crossing the line.
"I'm in a unique position in that my job is to make fun of people in Hollywood and then to have them sit next to me on the stage. And I've had 20 years of practice as far as balancing that stuff out goes," he tells THR. "... I'm also very conscious of what this is, that the Oscars is something that is very meaningful to people in the movie industry, and for many of them, this will be the biggest professional night of their lives. The last thing I want to do is ruin it for anyone."
Overall, Kimmel hopes the notoriously lengthy show will be an entertaining one, thanks in large part to the A-list performers who are scheduled to take the stage.
"We've added all the categories back, so just by virtue of that, it's going to be long, but hopefully it'll be fun, too. I think we have some great performance moments. We've got Rihanna," Kimmel points out. "I think it's going to be a fun show, but, yes, everybody’s always going to complain that it's long. I mean, you don't have to watch the whole thing, nobody's holding a gun to your head. Watch the first 15 minutes and then you can go to sleep, as far as I'm concerned."
The 2023 Oscars air live on Sunday, March 12 starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC. In the meantime, stay tuned to ETonline.com for complete Oscars coverage. Here's where you can stream all the 2023 Oscar-nominated movies online.
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