Get ready! Jimmy Kimmel will host the 2017 Oscars, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. It will be the first time the late-night host has taken on the star-studded event.
Kimmel, 49, previously hosted the American Music Awards five times, the 2007 ESPYS and the Emmy Awards in 2012 and 2016.
Back in September, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host opened up about his recent Emmy gig with THR. "Mostly I just want to do well as host. I would rather get a laugh than the trophy," he said at the time. "I'd rather have a funny — even when I'm presenting or whatever, right? I just want it to go well and afterward everybody to say, 'Oh, that was funny.’ That, to me, [is] its own reward."
Kimmel did bring the laughs in the end. During the 2016 Emmys, he most notably poked fun of Donald Trump (two months before the mogul, 70, was nominated as president-elect), Kanye West and the cast of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. He also pretaped a hilarious clip that featured James Corden, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Emilia Clarke and former GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush.
Chris Rock hosted the 2016 Academy Awards and addressed the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Stars such as Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith boycotted the ceremony because only white actors were nominated in the four major categories for the second year in a row.
The 89th Academy Awards will air on ABC Sunday, February 26, 2017.
