Jimmy Kimmel breaks silence on not hosting the 2025 Oscars

Jimmy Kimmel has recently shared why he declined hosting the 2025 Oscars.

Speaking on the latest episode of Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch and Doug Hendrickson’s Politickin podcast, Jimmy said, “I just decided I didn’t want to deal with that this year.”

Jimmy, who has emceed Oscars in 2017, 2018, 2023 and 2024, confessed, “It was just too much last year. You wind up pushing everything off till after the Oscars, and then you have to do everything you promised to do after the Oscars, after the Oscars.”

“I did two years [2017 and 2018], it went well. I did another two years [2023 and 2024], it went well. I figured I’d take a little break,” mentioned the late-night host.

Jimmy pointed out, “I’m not good at balancing. I’m really not.”

“It’s not one of my strengths. I’m all in when it comes to something like the Oscars,” continued the host.

Jimmy explained, “I think about it in the morning and at night, and when I have ideas, I want to work on them, and then my nightly show seems like a nuisance.”

“We have all our writers from the show working on the Oscars, so it distracts them,” remarked the late-night host.

Jimmy told the podcast host, “It’s fun to do, and it feels good when it went well, but, for me, just was too much, to do it three years in a row.”

Meanwhile, Jimmy revealed there are lot of good options for potential Oscars host but “most of them don’t want to do it”.

“It takes a lot of time, and a lot of the people who you think, ‘That person would be great’ they know they’d be great, they just don’t want to do it,” he added.

Jimmy concluded, “They say it’s a thankless job. I wouldn’t necessarily describe it like that, because when it goes well, it isn’t, but it’s a tough spot to be in.”