Jimmy Kimmel shares honest reason he turned down hosting the 2025 Oscars

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

After presenting the Oscars four times, late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel is ready to take a break.

Weeks ago, it was announced that the 56-year-old Jimmy Kimmel Live! host had passed on the opportunity to lead the 2025 ceremony.

Asked about his decision to turn down the gig on a new episode of iHeart Radio’s Politickin’ podcast, Kimmel admitted that hosting the Oscars for a third year in a row would be “too much.”

“I just decided I didn’t want to deal with that this year. It was just too much last year,” he told podcast hosts California Governor Gavin Newsom, former NFL star Marshawn Lynch and agent Doug Hendrickson.

“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.”

Kimmel explained that he has a difficult time preparing for the Oscars while filming his late-night talk show.

“I’m not good at balancing. I’m really not. It’s not one of my strengths,” he shared. “I’m all in when it comes to something like the Oscars. 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.”

He added: “We have all our writers from the show working on the Oscars, so it distracts them. 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.”

Kimmel’s wife, Molly McNearney, who additionally serves as the head writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live!, was also tapped to executive produce the 2023 and 2024 Oscars alongside her husband.

While Kimmel acknowledged that there are several others who would make good Oscars hosts, he said, “most of them won’t want to do it.” Actor and comedian John Mulaney has also reportedly passed on hosting the 2025 Oscars, despite fan requests.

“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,” Kimmel said. “When you think somebody’s going to be great, the only thing they can do is prove you wrong when they host the Oscars. 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.”

Kimmel faced criticism for his opening monologue at the 2024 ceremony, with The Independent’s Adam White calling it “tepid and unfunny.”

The 2025 Oscar nominees will be announced on January 17, 2025. The winners will be revealed at the live ceremony on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.