Jimmy Kimmel Addresses Oscars ‘Crisis Team’ and How He’d Handle Getting Slapped

Jimmy Kimmel, who’s hosting the Oscars again, weighed in on how “The Slap” will affect this year’s show.

A year after “The Slap,” Jimmy Kimmel isn’t quite sure what to expect as the host of this year’s Academy Awards. It marks the third time Kimmel’s hosted the Oscars following prior stints in 2017 and 2018, and it should probably be noted that the infamous Moonlight and La La Land fiasco happened at his first show. Kimmel missed the big controversy last year, but as it seems like anything can happen at the Oscars, who knows what will go down at the 2023 ceremony.

In a new interview with THR, Kimmel addressed his return to hosting the Oscars. He spoke about the recent news that a “crisis team” has been assembled for the ceremony, this way security will be better prepared if anything like The Slap happens again this year. For his part, Kimmel says he hasn’t been kept in the loop on those plans, which he uses to jokingly suggest that he’s far down on the Academy’s list of priorities.

“I wish I knew. I’ve not been involved in that. I guess I’m the last thing they’re worried about. (Laughs.) Yeah, I feel like I should at least know what was discussed so I know what I should fear when I walk onstage. But, really, I suspect it mostly has to do with UFOs.”

While Kimmel hasn’t been briefed, he does have a game plan for what to do if someone approaches him on the stage at the Oscars to give him a slap. It basically comes down to how big he is compared to the slapper, suggesting we’d see an outright beating if it happened to be somebody smaller.

“You mean, if somebody comes up on the stage and slaps me? Well, I size them up, and, if I’m bigger than they are, I beat the sh*t out of them on television. And if it’s The Rock, I run.”

Related: Jeff Ross Praises Chris Rock for Netflix Special and Verbal Beatdown of Will Smith

The Slap Will Be Mentioned

The Slap will be the elephant in the room at the Oscars this year, and Kimmel knows that going in. He confirms that he’ll have something to say about the incident at the ceremony, as it would be “ridiculous” to ignore it altogether. With that said, we shouldn’t expect for Will Smith jokes to take up too much time on the show. As Kimmel explains:

“Well, 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. I obviously don’t want to make the whole monologue about that, but it would be ridiculous not to mention it.”

We’ll see how Kimmel’s third stint hosting the show turns out soon enough. The Academy Awards will be aired on ABC on March 12, 2023.