And the winner of the first person to make a political joke at the 90th edition of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards, a/k/a the Oscars, goes to…
Jimmy Kimmel!
It didn’t take long for the ABC late night talk show host emceeing the Oscars to get political during his opening monologue (video below). As he did the typical run through of jokes about the actors and actresses nominated he quickly arrived at best actor nominee Timothée Chalamet, one of the stars of the coming of age drama Call Me By Your Name.
For those of you who may not be familiar with the plot of the film, suffice it to say that it is a sensitive recounting of the development of a same-sex relationship between two young men set in the northern Italian country and features a passionate kiss between Chalamet and his co-star, Hollywood hunk Armie Hammer.
Kimmel kicked off the joke by remarking about how little money Call Me By Your Name made at the box office. In fact, he continued, only two of the nine pictures nominated for best picture earned more than $100,000.
“But that’s not the point,” Kimmel exclaimed. “We don’t make films like Call Me By Your Name for money. We make them to upset Mike Pence.”
Cue the rimshot and loud applause.
You can watch the excerpt from Kimmel’sOscarr monologue in the video clip below.
.@jimmykimmel: "We don't make films like 'Call Me By Your Name' for money. We make them to upset Mike Pence." https://t.co/exBwXiE7dz #Oscars pic.twitter.com/RnY7rLjwKW
— ABC News (@ABC) March 5, 2018