Jimmy Kimmel Oscars Monologue On ‘Overrated’ Meryl Streep, Donald Trump [Video]


One day after president Donald Trump revealed he will skip the White House Correspondents Dinner, Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue to open the 89th Academy Awards proved people will make fun of him whether he’s there or not.

The host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! opened by mentioning the recurring theme of the United States: a divided nation seeking unity and peace. While Kimmel noted he’s not the man for the job, he jokingly referred to the only man in the audience who stands a chance at unifying the country.

“As you know, I don’t have to tell anybody, the country is divided right now. I’ve been getting a lot of advice, people have been telling me it’s time to bring everyone together, you need to say something to unite us and, let’s just get something straight off the top, I can’t do that,” Kimmel said.

“There’s only one Braveheart in the room and he’s not gonna unite us, either.”

With the camera focused on Mel Gibson, Kimmel complimented the actor on how Scientology is doing wonders for his appearance.

The 49-year-old comedian then turned serious; he stated that the only way for the country to follow president Trump’s slogan to Make America Great Again is by taking matters into our own hands.

“There are millions and millions of people watching right now and, if every one of you took a minute to reach out to one person you disagree with, someone you like, and have one positive, considerate conversation, not as liberals or conservatives, but as Americans, if we could all do that we could make America great again,” he said. “It starts with us.”

[Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]

However, after beating around the bush and not mentioning Trump by name, Kimmel quickly changed that. After last year’s controversy of “Oscars So White” noting several films and actors of color were shunned from winning awards — and a #OscarsSoWhite trend on social media — the award show came under intense scrutiny. Yet, the 45th president, according to Kimmel, managed to fixed that problem.

“Maybe this isn’t a popular thing to say, but I want to say thank you to President Trump,” Kimmel said.

“Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? That’s gone, thanks to him.”

After a brief rant on his long-time rival Matt Damon, who Kimmel jokingly called a “dumbass” for letting go of the lead role in Machester by the Sea, Kimmel directed his attack on Merryl Streep. The legendary actress who was on the receiving end of a Twitter rant from president Trump after her Golden Globes speech last month in which she never directly mentioned him.

[Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

“Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes,” Trump tweeted last month. “She is a Hillary flunky who lost big.”

Kimmel shed light on that attack, facetiously accusing Streep of “phoning it in” for her entire career.

“One actress has stood the test of time for her many uninspiring and overrated performances,” Kimmel said.

“(She’s) phoned it in for more than 50 films. This is Meryl’s 20th Oscar nomination… she wasn’t even in a movie this year, we just wrote her name in out of habit.”

Kimmel closed his monologue by once again referencing the president in an apparent attempt to bait him into another Twitter rant later this morning.

“Some of you will come up here tonight and make a speech that the President of the United States will tweet about at 5 a.m. in all caps during a bowel movement.”

[Featured Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

Share this article: Jimmy Kimmel Oscars Monologue On ‘Overrated’ Meryl Streep, Donald Trump [Video]
More from Inquisitr