Kimmel takes aim at Barbie snub, mocks Downey, De Niro in Oscars monologue

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Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at ‘Barbie’s’ Oscars snub during his Academy Awards opening monologue.

The 56-year-old actor kicked off the annual ceremony at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre on Sunday by recapping the Hollywood highlights over the last year, and he couldn’t resist telling off the audience for failing to shortlist Greta Gerwig for best director and Margot Robbie for best actress.

He said: “‘Barbie’ was a monster hit. What a thing, what an achievement. To take a plastic doll nobody even liked anymore … now Barbie’s a feminist icon thanks to Greta Gerwig, who many believe deserved to be nominated for best director.”

As the audience applauded, he said: “Hold on a second. I know you’re clapping but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her by the way. Don’t act like you had nothing to do with this.

“Margot put this giant hit together, and Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are here tonight. Look it’s Barbie and Ken sitting near each other. If either of you win tonight, you both won something much more important — the genetic lottery. Ryan, you are so hot. Let’s go camping together and not tell our wives.”

The ceremony started five minutes late due to protests, and Kimmel joked the delay was only going to make a long night even longer.

He said: “The show as you know is starting an hour early but don’t worry it will end very, very late. In fact, we’re already five minutes over and I’m not joking.

“I’m not gonna lie, it’s gonna be a long night after what was a long year, a hard year but it was also a great year for movies despite the fact everything stopped.”

He went on to poke fun at box office flop ‘Madame Web.’

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He said: “It was also a great year for movies, despite the fact that everything stopped. The people in this room somehow managed to come up with so many excellent films and memorable performances. This night is full of enormous talent, and untold potential, but so was ‘Madame Web.'”

The host quipped ‘Oppenheimer’ actor Robert Downey Jr. — who has battled addiction — was at “one of the highest points of his career.”

And as the star tapped his nose when the camera cut to him, Kimmel joked: “Was that too on the nose or a drug motion you made? Look at him, he’s so handsome, so talented, he’s won every award there is to win.”

Kimmel’s other targets included the lengthy running time of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ and the age gap between its 80-year-old star Robert De Niro and his girlfriend Tiffany Chen.

Bemoaning the lengthy running times of modern films, he said: “When I went to see ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, I had my mail forwarded to the theatre. It’s so long in the time it takes to watch it, you could drive to Oklahoma and solve the murders yourself.

“Forty-eight years ago Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster were both nominated for ‘Taxi Driver’ and they’re both nominated tonight. In 1976, Jodie was young enough to be his daugher. Now, she’s 20 years too old to be his girlfriend.”

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