Oscars teleprompter reportedly cut out on live TV, forcing Jimmy Kimmel to improvise
Jimmy Kimmel served a biting round of jokes during the 2023 Oscars, but the show's teleprompter reportedly bit back during the live telecast.
According to Jimmy Kimmel Live executive producer Molly McNearney, the teleprompter cut out for the Oscars host as he introduced the presenters for the Best Editing category during Sunday night's ceremony on ABC.
"I knew it, because he totally went off script," McNearney told Variety. "He came out talking about the importance of editing anytime you read a text from your dad. I was like, what's happening? Within three seconds, one of our writers said the prompter's out. I could just see it in his face. And he came back, he's like, 'I just did all that without prompter!'"
The rollout of the category went smoothly from there, with Everything Everywhere All at Once editor Paul Rogers taking the prize. In fact, according to Walt Disney TV's Rob Mills, most of the show did.
"I'm sorry there really was not anything crazy," he said, referencing the unexpected moment Will Smith approached Chris Rock on stage and slapped him in the face during last year's event. "All the envelopes were correct, no one slapped anyone, there was no egregiously bad dance number. We've come such a long way from Rob Lowe and Snow White to 'Naatu Naatu.' There really was nothing but good stuff."
EW has reached out to representatives for the Oscars show and Kimmel for comment.
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