Back in 2017, Jimmy Kimmel was hosting the Oscars during the wild moment when the wrong envelope was handed to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, who then announced La La Land as Best Picture when really the winner was Moonlight. It was an extremely embarrassing fiasco for the Academy followed by intense scrutiny over the security procedures used to protect the winning envelopes. People couldn’t believe a mix-up like this could happen, and it was the craziest thing to happen in Oscars history — until Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.
During a scheduled appearance on Bill Simmons’ podcast following the Oscars broadcast, Kimmel and Simmons both assumed that maybe there’d maybe be a couple of wacky moments to discuss, nothing too crazy. But neither one of them was prepared for something as momentous as Smith assaulting Rock onstage. Right out of the gate, Simmons joked that Kimmel is now “off the hook” for the La La Land incident, which the late-night host was kinda bummed about.
“What fun is it to be involved in the second craziest Oscars moment?” Kimmel quipped before comparing the incident to the infamous fight where Mike Tyson bit two of Evander Holyfield’s ears. It was just something nobody would’ve ever predicted and will go down as one of the craziest moments ever, not just at the Oscars, due to Smith’s reputation as the “nicest guy” in Hollywood.
“This is like if, you know, Tom Hanks got up and smacks and cracks somebody across the face,” Kimmel said while laughing at the still-fresh (prince) incident. “It’s the only thing comparable!”
(Via Bill Simmons)