Zing! Jimmy Kimmel continued his annual tradition of roasting ABC during the network upfronts on Tuesday, May 12, taking aim at everything from Bruce Jenner's much-discussed Diane Sawyer interview to the oft-criticized lack of diversity on The Bachelor.
Addressing the crowd at New York City's Lincoln Center, the late-night host, 47, joked that ABC had been doing very well since it "decided to start acknowledging that minorities exist."
"We truly are the most diverse network," he said. "We have a show called Black-ish that was green lit by a guy who is both British and Jewish. We've got people of color, we've got women, we've got men who are turning into women. We are committed to diversity at every level of our organization. Except The Bachelor, we're going to keep that one white."
The Bachelor franchise was the target of more jokes later on in the roast, when Kimmel brought up the new twist on season 11 of The Bachelorette, which features two women, Kaitlyn Bristowe and Britt Nilsson. (Only one of the two will make it past the first episode on Monday, May 18.)
"This season we'll have two Bachelorettes. We'll have two women and 25 guys, like the Avengers," he quipped, getting in a dig at Joss Whedon's male-heavy superhero flick. "The men are gonna vote and then one of the two women, the one who wins, will be selected to hand out the final rose. But the real winner, as always, will be feminism."
He went on to joke that ABC should cut down on Bachelorettes and replace them with "more Bruce Jenners" to boost ratings.
"That Bruce Jenner interview was huge for us — 17 million people tuned in to watch his chat with Diane Sawyer," he shared, referring to the former Olympian's 20/20 sit-down on April 24, in which he came out as transgender. "And that's why we're making this solemn promise to you, our sponsors: Starting this fall, someone on ABC will change genders every week."
Then, zeroing in on ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee, he said, "I don't want to spoil the end of Paul's presentation, but I do want to say that we are all so proud of him, and he is so brave."
