Feb 28, 2017–Jimmy Kimmel Live generally lags behind its late-night competition on CBS and NBC. But on Monday night, exploiting the biggest snafu in Oscar history, Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel became the momentary numero uno.
After what might be the biggest Oscars snafu in history, Jimmy Kimmel took to his late-night show on Monday night to give his take on what happened when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly presented the best picture award to La La Land instead of Moonlight. He also revealed how Matt Damon and Denzel Washington helped him realize what was happening.
“What Warren did is he was confused, so he handed it to Faye and let her read the winner,” said Kimmel. “In other words, Clyde threw Bonnie under the bus. It was a slick move.”
Kimmel said that during the mixup he was seated in the audience preparing to end the Oscars next to Damon, with whom Kimmel jokingly had a back-and-forth throughout the ceremony, extending their ongoing “feud.”
“We noticed some commotion going on, and Matt says, ‘I think I heard the stage manager say they got the winner wrong,'” said Kimmel on his show. “The stage manager is never on camera. It’s very unusual.”
Kimmel said that after he joined the commotion onstage, Washington caught his attention to point out that Moonlight director Barry Jenkins still needed to give his acceptance speech now that the film had won best picture.
In Nielsen’s metered market overnight ratings, which measure the top 56 markets in the country, Kimmel pulled in a 2.6 household rating. That easily topped Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show,” which drew a 2.2 household rating.
Kimmel’s explanation paid off: He edged out Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show,” which, despite appearance by Jon Stewart, reeled a 2.5 household rating, like its performance for the last few weeks.
Kimmel also topped in the 25 markets with local people meters that measure the 18-49 demographic, notching a 0.8 to Fallon’s 0.7 and Colbert’s 0.6.
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