Jimmy Kimmel piles on the 2022 Oscars Slap jokes

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 95th Oscars awards this Sunday and cracked more than a few jokes about the infamous Slap. The incident in question occurred at the 2022 Academy Awards, when actor Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage.

Smith was defending his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia, after Rock made an unsavory joke about her shaved head and called her ‘G.I. Jane’. Smith has since apologized.

Jimmy Kimmel laid on the Slap jokes pretty thick, including a few witty remarks about the Academy Awards’ new crisis team. The team was introduced to thwart any future acts of violence from taking place.

“We have strict policies in place – if anyone in this theater commits an act of violence at any point during the show, you will be awarded the Oscar for Best Actor and permitted to give a 19-minute-long speech,” Kimmel joked, referring to Smith’s Best Actor win on the same night of the Slap.

He continued, “seriously, The Academy has a crisis team in place. If anything unpredictable or violent happens during the ceremony. Just do what you did last year: nothing.”

Jimmy Kimmel jokes about Academy Awards defense squad

According to Kimmel, the Academy’s new crisis team includes some notable (albeit fictional) names, implying that if anyone plans on trying anything this year, it will not be as easy.

“There are a few of my friends you’re going to have to get through first,” Kimmel said. This list of friends included Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) from ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) from ‘Creed’, and The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) from ‘The Mandalorian’.

The comedian made a couple more jokes later in the show, using Smith’s movie titles as puns.

“Hopefully it goes off this time without a hitch, or at least without ‘Hitch’,” Kimmel joked, referring to Smith’s role in the 2005 romantic comedy.

He continued, “please put your hands together and then keep them to yourself.”

Jimmy Kimmel closes out Oscars show with a few more Slap jokes

As the awards ceremony came to a close, Kimmel couldn’t resist making a few more jokes about the incident a year prior.

“At this point in the show, it kind of makes you miss the slapping a little bit, right?” he joked, referring to the show’s long run-time, approaching the two-hour mark.

“Great work, crisis team,” Kimmel later deadpanned as he ended the show. Unfortunately for some viewers, the joke still didn’t end there - Kimmel updated a sign that read “number of Oscars telecasts without incident” to the number 001.