Jimmy Kimmel did not host Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, but for the second year in a row that role was filled by the wonderful Conan O’Brien. But in introducing the documentary category, the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host still said some pointed things.
Kimmel, who came out to announce the Oscars for documentary short and documentary feature, joked that O’Brien went out and accidentally “put his face in the sun and got burnt. So I’m going to finish the rest of the show.”
But looking serious, he said of the documentary, “You hear a lot about courage on shows like this, but it’s real courage to tell a story that you might get killed for telling. You know, there are countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which one. I’ll leave that to North Korea and CBS.”
This, of course, refers to CBS’ recent decision not to allow Texas Congressman James Talarico to appear as a guest on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” due to threats from the FCC. (CBS also previously froze a promoted “60 Minutes” segment.)
Of course, Kimmel knows a thing or two about free speech. The host was abruptly removed from the show last fall after coming under fire from FCC Chairman Brendan Kerr, an action by Disney that rallied free speech advocates.
“Fortunately for all of us, there is an international community of filmmakers dedicated to telling the truth, often at great risk, to make films that teach us, call out injustice, and inspire action. There are also documentaries that walk around the White House trying on shoes,” he added, subtly taking a dig at Amazon MGM’s “Melania.”
He later did something similar and released an excellent documentary film. At the time, Kimmel joked, “Come on, is he going to be mad that his wife wasn’t nominated for this award?”
As for the winners in each category, “All the Empty Rooms” (directed by Joshua Seftel and Conal Jones) won in the short documentary category, and “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” by David Borenstein, Helle Farber, Aljuveta Karaskova, Radovan Syburt and Lucy Kong won.
