As Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel prepares to present this weekend’s 95th Academy Awards, he said he is ready if anyone tries to slap him.
The comedian referenced the famous moment during last year’s Academy Awards when Will Smith slapped then-host Chris Rock over a joke made about Jada Pinkett Smith.
JIMMY KIMMEL SET TO HOST OSCARS, SAYS ‘THERE ARE ONLY TWO WAYS TO PREPARE’
“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 s*** out of them on television, and if it’s the Rock, I run," Kimmel said in an interview.
The comedian said people can expect his opening monologue to joke about last year’s slap incident.
“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," he said.
This year’s ceremony will be Kimmel’s third time hosting the Oscars.
In 2017, Kimmel was the host during an envelope mix-up that mistakenly named La La Land as the winner for best picture instead of Moonlight after Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were given the wrong category envelope.
“It’s disappointing in a lot of ways. If you’re gonna be part of a f***-up, it might as well be the biggest f***-up ever,” Kimmel said about the moment. “Being part of the second-biggest f***-up doesn’t carry as much cachet.”
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Kimmel recently said that he is preparing for this weekend by writing “a ton of jokes” and starving as he tries to fit into his tuxedo.
The ceremony will air live on ABC this Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern.