Earlier this week, we reported that the late night television host Jimmy Kimmel had tastelessly attacked First Lady Melania Trump during the Oscars on Sunday night. Now, Melania has gotten the last laugh. Indeed, it’s been revealed that the Oscars ratings have plummeted to a four-year low.
Oscars Ratings Plummet
According to Variety, the 98th annual Academy Awards drew in 17.86 million viewers on ABC and Hulu. This makes it the least-watched Oscars ceremony since 2022. Viewership for the Oscars was down 9% from last year’s 19.7 million viewers, which had been a five-year high for the Academy Awards.
The Oscars averaged a 3.92 rating among adults 18-49. This is down from last year’s 4.54 rating among this same demographic.
The Academy Awards are set to air on ABC and Hulu for two more years. The awards show will then be moving to YouTube in 2029, right after the 100th anniversary ceremony in 2028.
This ratings dip has come as a massive disappointment to ABC executives who were hoping that the popularity of movies like Sinners and One Battle After Another would increase the ratings. Clearly, however, that was not enough to make people want to tune in.
Perhaps a large reason why the ratings for the Oscars plummeted is the fact that Americans are sick and tired of how political these awards shows have become. Indeed, Kimmel’s segment at the Oscars this year is a prime example of the political nonsense that Americans are sick of getting from the liberal elites of Hollywood.
Kimmel Attacks Melania During Oscars
Kimmel was onstage at the Oscars to announce the winner of the Best Documentary Short and Best Documentary Feature categories. Before announcing the former, Kimmel attempted to mock Melania’s eponymous documentary that was released by Amazon back in January.
“There are also documentaries where you walk around the White House trying on shoes,” Kimmel said.
When Kimmel took the stage again to announce Best Documentary Feature, he lashed out at the Trumps once again.
“Oh man, is he gonna be mad his wife wasn’t nominated for this,” Kimmel said. This was obviously a tasteless swipe at President Donald Trump.
Check out Kimmel’s full comments for yourself in the video below.
White House Fires Back
The White House fired back through top aide Stephen Cheung.
“Jimmy Kimmel (Mr. Blackface) is a classless hack who is self-projecting his depression and sadness onto others,” Cheung wrote on X the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “He lives a pathetic existence where nobody— not even his family— enjoys his miserable company.”
“Mr. Blackface” is a reference to Kimmel wearing blackface. He did so while portraying the NBA star Karl Malone in a Comedy Central sketch back in the early 2000s. Though Kimmel has apologized for this many times over the years, it continues to come back to haunt him. Many have pointed out that Kimmel and his fellow liberal elites of Hollywood would be the first to forever “cancel” a conservative who was caught wearing blackface.
“The only people giving him any attention are Hollywood Elites. BUH-BYE,” Cheung concluded.
If ABC wants more people to tune in to the Oscars next year, perhaps they should take more action to stop celebrities like Kimmel from making the show political. In the end, the American people are simply sick and tired of being lectured about politics from the liberal elites of Hollywood during their self-congratulatory awards shows.
Good riddance, Jimmy Kimmel!