Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue for the 2024 Oscars began out fairly run-of-the mill. There have been jokes about how Killers of the Flower Moon was lengthy sufficient to “drive to Oklahoma and resolve the murders your self,” a Madame Net shoutout, and a fairly good topical gag in regards to the viral Republican rebuttal to the State of the Union tackle final week. However then Kimmel ended his monologue on one thing outstanding: a quippy, but honest and full-throated speech in help of Hollywood’s labor unions.
After the late-night host bought some ribbing on the twin WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes final yr with snicker strains each corny (“If a film premieres at The Grove and no actors are there to help it, does Mario Lopez make a sound?”) and shockingly barbed (making it clear he wasn’t shouting out the Director’s Guild of America, who “folded instantly”), Kimmel pivoted to sincerity. Hollywood, Kimmel mentioned, “is at its coronary heart, a union city,” after which proceeded to increase gratitude to the under the road labor unions: the truck drivers, Teamsters, and IATSE union members who supported placing Hollywood expertise, calling for these current to help the IATSE of their ongoing negotiations with the studios).
Final summer season’s Hollywood work stoppage started with the Author’s Guild of America starting what can be a 148-day strike in Could, and continued when SAG-AFTRA, the actor’s union, went on strike two months later, on July 14, for 118 days. On the coronary heart of each union disputes with the studios have been protections governing the usage of synthetic intelligence, as Kimmel famous by the use of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts joke.
Kimmel then known as lots of these union staff on stage in a genuinely shifting demonstration of solidarity, closing out with one closing joke: “I’m gonna make sure that this present runs lengthy so that you get a ton of extra time.”