Jimmy Kimmel is facing backlash over his Emmy skit with Will Arnett on Monday, with fans claiming he stole the thunder from Quinta Brunson during her big win.
Arnett and Kimmel were slated to announce the winner for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for Abbott Elementary’s pilot, and took the stage in an unconventional way, as seen in video footage from the awards show. Arnett dragged Kimmel across the stage by the legs as he lay flat on his back and completely motionless. The joke seemed to go too far for some viewers, when Kimmel refused to get off the floor and Brunson was forced to step around him to accept her award.
The “dead Jimmy Kimmel” bit was mildly funny, then incredibly ill-conceived when he kept doing it while Quinta Brunson was trying to celebrate a career high point.
— Noel Murray (@NoelMu) September 13, 2022
Arnett kept the joke going by telling fans that Kimmel had consumed too many skinny margaritas while backstage, and huffed and puffed into the microphone, exaggerating the fact that he had just hauled Kimmel across the stage floor.
Brunson was forced to walk around and over Kimmel as he persisted with the skit and refused to get up even after she had made her way to the stage. He was lying so close to the microphone that there was no way anyone could take a full photograph of Brunson’s win without capturing Kimmel in the frame. (RELATED: ‘Eat D*ck’: MMA Fighter Joel Bauman Lashes Out At Jimmy Kimmel, Hollywood)
Kimmel was pummeled with accusations of white privilege and intentional interference of Brunson’s big moment.
“I don’t know of a better example of invasive white male privilege than Jimmy Kimmel laying in the middle of Quinta Brunson’s #Emmys2022 speech. He had no business/right to take up space in the way that he did,” said a Twitter user by the name of Court Aim.
I don’t know of a better example of invasive white male privilege than Jimmy Kimmel laying in the middle of Quinta Brunson’s #Emmys2022 speech. He had no business/right to take up space in the way that he did.
— 𝕮𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖙 𝕶𝖎𝖒 💥 (@TheCourtKim) September 13, 2022
That same user went on to say, “It’s like, “okay, you lost again.” Wonderful. He had to do ALL of that during a Black woman’s first EMMY win, though? Read the room” on Twitter.