The New York Times: Jimmy Kimmel on Hosting the Oscars at a Political Moment
He has been the host of the Emmy Awards, the ESPY Awards, the American Music Awards, the “Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson” and, for 14 years, his ABC late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” so it’s only fair that Jimmy Kimmel should at last be allowed to host the Academy Awards. He’ll finally get his chance this Sunday, the first time in nearly a decade that a working late-night star will be M.C. of the Oscars.
Mr. Kimmel, 49, is taking on this award show in a year when there doesn’t seem to be much mystery about which major nominees will win. And he’ll have to find a way to connect with a nationwide audience at a fractious time, when political tempers are running high. So, no pressure there.
As Mr. Kimmel said in a recent telephone interview, speaking from the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is produced: “I’ve come to terms with the fact that someone is going to be disappointed in me at the end. I just don’t know who it will be yet.”