Academy Awards host Jimmy Kimmel started off the 2017 ceremony with a number of jabs at President Trump. One of his many politically-tinged jokes included a reference to the president’s feud with Oscar-nominated actress Meryl Streep, who made waves when she made an inflammatory speech deriding Trump at the 2017 Golden Globes.
“Of all the ‘great’ actors here in Hollywood, one in particular has stood the test of time for her many uninspiring and overrated performances,” Kimmel said making air quotes with his hands when he uttered the word “great.” From her mediocre early work in ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘Out of Africa’ to her underwhelming performances in ‘Kramer v. Kramer’ and ‘Sophie’s Choice.”
“From her mediocre early work in ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘Out of Africa’ to her underwhelming performances in ‘Kramer v. Kramer’ and ‘Sophie’s Choice, Meryl Streep has phoned it in for more than 50 films over the course of her career,” Kimmel continued to laughter and scattered applause from the audience while the camera cut to a sheepish Streep.
“This is her 20th Oscar nomination. Even more amazing considering she wasn’t even in a movie this year, we just wrote her name in out of habit.”
He then called for the whole auditorium to give her a standing ovation, applauding her as “the highly overrated Meryl Street, everyone.” He made one last Trump jab by complimenting her dress, asking “Is that an Ivanka?”
Streep was nominated for Best Actress for her role in “Florence Foster Jenkins.” She made her famous speech preaching compassion and deriding Trump’s politics — though not mentioning the president by name — while accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes.
“When the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose,” Streep said in her January Globes speech.
In response to her criticism, Trump tweeted “Meryl Streep, one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a Hillary flunky who lost big.”
