Megyn Kelly Calls Out Jimmy Kimmel—'Classless'

Megyn Kelly has criticized the job Jimmy Kimmel did hosting the 96th annual Academy Awards—taking the opportunity to label one of his jokes as "classless."

During Monday's episode of The Megyn Kelly Show, Kelly spoke with conservative political commentator Andrew Klavan about Kimmel's hosting job. They were both less impressed with the fact that on the night, he joked about former President Donald Trump and actor Robert Downey Jr.

Newsweek emailed Kelly and Kimmel for comment on Tuesday.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential race, slammed Kimmel's hosting of the event on his Truth Social platform during the ceremony, which Kimmel mocked when he read the post aloud on stage near the end of the evening.

Kimmel's criticism of the former president didn't sit well with Kelly, who slammed the comedian for not directing any of his jokes at President Joe Biden.

"He found time to take a shot at Trump, he found time to take a shot at Katie Britt, he did not find any time to make fun of Joe Biden who is the sitting president of the United—I just guess there's no fodder there, nothing to joke about," Kelly said during her show.

In response, Klavan said Kimmel is "just following what the news media is doing." He added that he was surprised Kimmel didn't mention the president on the night as in his opinion, Biden gave "the worst State of the Union address in my lifetime," which he called "ugly and divisive."

Kelly and Klavan's criticism didn't end there, as they also didn't approve of Kimmel's gag about Downey Jr's past drug addiction. The actor has been sober since 2003 after a tumultuous life with drugs that began at age six.

"This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr's career... well, one of the highest points," Kimmel said during the opening monologue. When the Oscar nominee tapped his nose in recognition, Kimmel asked: "Was that too on the nose or a drug motion you made?" after which the actor gestured for Kimmel to move on from the joke.

"What Kimmel did last night, was he tried to mock people's weaknesses and things they had genuinely fought hard to overcome, like he did to Robert Downey Jr, who wound up being a favorite of the night," Kelly said.

"But before he won Best Supporting Actor for Oppenheimer, Kimmel, in his opening monologue, decided to take a shot at—everyone knows about Robert Downey Jr's long history with drugs and alcohol. It's something no one celebrates but he needs to be given credit for overcoming."

After Kelly played a clip of the exchange between Kimmel and Downey Jr, she said, "What was that? That was just classless," to which Klavan agreed.

Kelly also compared how Kimmel hosted the Oscars to how comedian Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes, which he did in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2020.

"Last night, one of the things I think stood out about Kimmel's hosting was, he didn't get it. The reason Ricky Gervais did so well when he hosted those Golden Globes and just eviscerated everyone in that room is because he was making fun of them on things that we knew were true," she explained.

"Y'know kind of, their abuse of their own power, their self-importance and that kind of thing and he was punching up, which is okay."

Sunday marked the fourth time that Kimmel has hosted the Oscars, joining the small group handful of celebrities who have done so more than three times in the event's nearly 100-year history.

"I always dreamed of hosting the Oscars exactly four times," Kimmel said in a statement in November.