New Delhi: An ‘unsavoury’ incident from the 95th Academy Awards ceremony Sunday involved the world’s youngest Nobel laureate, Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai. Host Jimmy Kimmel asked the winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize a gag question that did not go down well with social media users.
“As the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history, do you think Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine?” Kimmel asked. To this, Malala replied, “I just talk about peace.”
Jimmy Kimmel asks Malala Yousafzai a viewer question: “As the youngest Nobel Prize winner in history, I was wondering, do you think Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine?”
“I only talk about peace.” #Oscars#Oscars95https://t.co/OizA2V2cyr pic.twitter.com/krf3VvN7os
— ABC News (@ABC) March 13, 2023
While Malala’s answer was deemed “classy”, many criticised Kimmel for asking an irrelevant question from a Nobel Prize winner.
A Twitter user named Jason Solt said, “This girl didn’t survive a bullet to the face to hear abt pointless pop culture drama.” Others questioned whether “this dude” is even funny. “Why are we still giving Jimmy Kimmel a platform to speak? I genuinely don’t know one person who thinks he’s funny or clever.”
Kimmel’s humorous question was a reference to the ‘spitgate’ controversy between actors Harry Styles and Chris Pine during the shooting of Don’t Worry Darling (2022).
Malala is the executive producer of Stranger at the Gate, which was nominated in the Best Documentary Short Film category at the Oscars 2023. The winning entry was India’s The Elephant Whisperers, which was director Kartiki Gonsalves’ debut film.
Malala Yousafzai at the #Oscars. https://t.co/i5wEon5M8t pic.twitter.com/lj1vNX5o1r
— Variety (@Variety) March 12, 2023
More embarrassment
Kimmel attempted a comeback to Malala’s response by first praising her and then twisting her name to draw a pun.
“You know what, that’s why you’re Malala and nobody else is. That’s a great answer, Malala. The winner is malala-land, everybody,” he said, quipping on Damien Chazelle’s 2016 film La La Land, winner of six Oscars at the 89th Academy Awards.
Malala didn’t say anything in return. She did, however, retweeted ABC News’ post of the clip with a short message.
Treat people with kindness✌️ https://t.co/ZvUVHcrTBJ
— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) March 13, 2023
While people on the Internet applauded her ‘graceful answer’, users rained fire on Kimmel. One wrote, “jimmy kimmel will pay for making malala answer that question btw”; another tweeted that it was Kimmel’s bid to “stay relevant” by “undermining work done by women of color”.
Another user called it “tone-deaf” and “disrespectful”.
Yet another user said that “”malala land” might be what finally kills jimmy kimmel’s career”.
“Did Jimmy Kimmel just make a racist joke about Malala’s name… liberalism has not evolved one bit in a billion years,” a user asked.
Another wrote, “Imagine getting shot in the head by a world terror organization just for Jimmy Kimmel to call you “Malala land” on international television”.
Imagine getting shot in the head by a world terror organization just for Jimmy Kimmel to call you “Malala land” on international television
#Oscars
— Michael Hanley (@Michael_Hanley7) March 13, 2023
Not-so-bearable ‘bear’
Things further took a weird turn when the presenters then brought out a person dressed as the bear from Elizabeth Banks’ film Cocaine Bear, and paraded them down the aisles, oddly harassing Yousafzai the whole time. Kimmel was then seen asking the bear to leave Yousafzai alone.
“Leave Malala alone, cocaine bear!” he said, noticing that she looked uncomfortable in her seat.
A user wrote, “Jimmy Kimmel saying: ‘Cocaine Bear leave Malala alone!’ is somehow a sentence that summarizes the insanity of the past two decades.”
Meanwhile, The Guardian called it “the best quotes of Oscars 2023”.
(Edited by Prashant)