Jimmy Kimmel has joked that “all would be forgiven” with Will Smith if he had slapped Kanye West at the Grammys earlier this week – find out more below.
During his opening monologue for the latest episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel addressed Kanye West and wife Bianca Censori’s controversial appearance at the red carpet, where she took off her jacket to reveal a fully see-through dress, revealing her nude figure.
Will Smith also attended the Grammys, marking his first awards ceremony since the infamous slap incident at the 2022 Oscars where he struck Chris Rock across the face for making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.
Kimmel tied the two incidents together, joking: “You know what’s a shame? If Will Smith – all he had to do was run out on that red carpet and slap Kanye, I think all would be forgiven. He would be hosting the Oscars next year.”
Kimmel added about Kanye and Bianca Censori’s appearance: “Another rodent came out of his hole to hit the red carpet at the Grammys last night — none other than Kanye West, who showed up to take photos. He showed up for the red carpet only with his wife, who caused quite a stir. She was wearing … nothing.”
“This shows you just how times have changed. Before Trump, [West and Censori] would have been our whole monologue tonight. Now it’s like the ninth craziest thing that happened this week.”
Kimmel then compared Censori’s nude dress to the infamous 2004 Super Bowl incident during which Justin Timberlake caused Janet Jackson to experience a wardrobe malfunction, revealing her naked breast for a few seconds: “Remember when the whole country melted down when one of Janet Jackson’s boobs popped out for a millisecond? Now a completely nude woman walks the red carpet at the Grammys, they’re yelling, ‘Bianca, over here on the right! Please!”
Kanye and Censori left the Grammys shortly after their red carpet appearance and did not attend the main ceremony, with West later confirming that they had done so of their own volition and hadn’t been escorted out as was initially speculated.
It had been suggested that Censori’s outfit could count as indecent exposure but according to TMZ, LAPD sources confirmed that there will be no legal consequences from the stunt as the Grammy Awards is a private event and no one from the show made a complaint to the police.
West was nominated for Best Rap Song (‘Carnival’ with Ty Dolla $ign and Rich The Kid feat. Playboi Carti) at this year’s event but lost out to Kendrick Lamar‘s ‘Not Like Us’.