From making snide remarks at US President Donald Trump, Jimmy Kimmel didn't mince words in his debut as the host of the Oscars.
Kimmel opened the Oscars ceremony here on Sunday by taking a dig at Trump.
In the opening monologue laden with sarcasm, Kimmel said the 89th Academy Awards were being watched across the globe in more than 225 countries "that now hate us and I think that is an amazing thing".
Kimmel didn't tiptoe around the issues the US is reeling through.
"I don't have to tell anybody the country is divided right now. I've been getting a lot of advice from people telling me, 'You need to say something to unite us'. Let's just get something straight off the top -- I can't do that."
He went on: "There's only one braveheart in the room, and he's not going to unite us either, okay? Mel (Gibson), you look great. I think the Scientology is working, I really do."
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Last year, the Academy was engulfed in the 'OscarSoWhite' controversy due to the lack of diversity with minority actors, writers, directors and producers failing to make it in the nomination.
Kimmel commented -- with sarcasm 00 how Trump has helped the Academy come out of the racism stir.
"Maybe this is not a popular thing to say, but I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? That's gone, thanks to him."
As a move to catch his attention, Kimmel then tweeted to Trump live. In one post, Kimmel wrote -- "Hey Donald Trump you up?" and in another he wrote "Donald Trump Meryl says hi."
On a serious note, Kimmel said: "There are millions and millions of people watching right now, and if every one of you took a minute to reach out to one person you disagree with and have a positive, considerate conversation - not as liberals or conservatives but as Americans - if we all did that it would make America great again. It starts with us."
His jabs at Trump continued all through the ceremony, which was held at Dolby Theatre here on Sunday.
Apart from trashing Trump at the star-studded gala, Kimmel also took potshots at several stars -- be it calling Meryl Streep overrated or his focus on his close friend and pretend-enemy and actor Matt Damon.
Kimmel also gave special attention to eight-year-old Indian boy Sunny Pawar, who became a part of the gala because of his nominated film "Lion".
Also, after the unprecedented mix-up on stage for the Best Picture honour -- wherein "La La Land" was wrongly announced the winner rather than "Moonlight", Kimmel said: "I blame myself for this. I knew I'd screw this up... I promise I'll never come back."
--IANS
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