Liam Neeson Blasts Oscar Host Jimmy Kimmel For Offensive Jokes About Irish People

Following Jimmy Kimmel’s joke about Irish people at the just-concluded Oscars, Liam Neeson criticized the award show host for his insensitive joke. Kimmel made a statement that felt insulting to people of Irish heritage during his opening monologue at the event where the 2022 movie, An Irish Goodbye won best live-action short film.

“It’s been some years for diversity and inclusion. We have nominees from every corner of Dublin,” Kimmel said. “Five Irish actors are nominated tonight, which means the odds of another fight on stage just went way up.”

Liam Neeson reacts to Jimmy Kimmel’s joke

In an interview with The Times, Neeson was asked to comment about Jimmy Kimmel’s speech at the award ceremony, the 70-year-old answered that he was taken aback by the joke. “I heard he was being a bit racist,” he told the news outlet. “Jokes about Irish fighting, drinking, and all that. I don’t know what to say.”

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During the interview, the actor also gave his take on the connection between on-screen and real-life violence. “It’s very much an American problem,” Neeson told the outlet. “That Second Amendment. And, OK, I’ve made a few violent films and used a gun quite a few times, but speaking for myself, I grew up surrounded by violence. Certainly from 1969 onwards… And I grew up with matinees. Cowboys slaughtering Indians and vice versa. I loved having a toy gun but was never drawn to think, ‘I wonder what it’s like to shoot with a real gun?’ But gun violence in the US is staggering. A few weeks ago, a six-year-old shot his teacher.”

Viewers of the Oscars react to Jimmy Kimmel’s racist comments

Fans of the Oscars have taken to social media to express their displeasure about the offensive profiling of the Irish people. A Twitter user, Jonathan Victory wrote, “This Irish joke did not go down well in Dublin,” while another tweep describes the treatment of the Irish people at the Oscars as “unfair.”

Also, a fan took to the comment section to praise Colin Farrell who in his response to Kimmel defended the honor of the Irish people with his appropriate response to Kimmel. “Thank u Colin Farrell for making being Irish sexy and cool. One day the Irish will be respected.”

Another fan concluded that the joke made by the host was not important and it was ill-timed, “Sad to hear such an out-of-date stereotype joke aimed at us Irish.”