#Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel won't focus on politics

Jimmy Kimmel participates in the "Jimmy Kimmel Live and 90th Oscars" panel during the Disney/ABC Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour. picture: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File

Jimmy Kimmel participates in the "Jimmy Kimmel Live and 90th Oscars" panel during the Disney/ABC Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour. picture: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File

Published Mar 4, 2018

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Oscars producers have promised that host Jimmy Kimmel's monologue won't be too political, and will only address the Time's Up movement "once or twice".

The 50-year-old TV star is set to host the Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday (04.03.18), and although he's known for speaking out on issues such as health care and gun laws, producers of the ceremony have insisted his speech won't be "issue-oriented".

Producer Michael De Luca said: "His monologue, his humour is less issue-oriented for our purposes."

Michael even stated that the glitzy ceremony won't focus too heavily on the recent #MeToo and Time's Up movements - which were started after sexual harassment allegations surfaced involving several Hollywood executives, including Harvey Weinstein - although the topic will be addressed in some capacity.

He added to USA Today: "We will find a moment or two where we find we can address it appropriately."

The producer's promise to keep politics largely off the cards comes after Jimmy himself claimed it was "almost necessary" to discuss political issues at the award ceremony.

He said: "A lot of people are going with this line of reasoning where they say people in show business shouldn't speak out about politics. And yet ... they elected Donald Trump the president of the United States.

"So, I think that argument has pretty well jumped out the window."

The 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' host has no regrets about voicing his political views in the past, though he still plans to be "funny" too.

Of his plans for his Oscars monologue, he said: "I'm still doing a comedy show and I need to be funny and entertain my audience, but I also think that we've matured enough ... to the point where we can accept late-night talk show hosts speaking about a serious subject.

"I think that it's almost necessary now."

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