Conan O’Brien,Drake, and Kendrick Lamar. WireImage (2); Getty Photographs
Conan O’Brien wasn’t taking sides within the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, stated the author behind his biting Oscars joke.
Through the Sunday, March 2, awards ceremony, O’Brien, 61, quipped, “We’re midway by way of the present, which suggests it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come back out and name Drake a pedophile.” The joke was an obvious reference to Lamar’s scathing Tremendous Bowl LIX halftime efficiency in February, the place Lamar carried out his Drake diss monitor, “Not Like Us.” (Lamar famously accused Drake of pedophilia on the 2024 monitor, one thing Drake has denied.)
Skyler Higley, O’Brien’s joke author, instructed TMZ on Monday, March 3, that the quip was all about tapping into the popular culture zeitgeist and never a diss towards both artist.
“The concept it’s being taken as an actual call-out or taking sides in any method within the beef is absurd,” Higley, who labored on O’Brien’s former TBS discuss present, instructed the outlet.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s feud has change into one of the crucial storied rap beefs in historical past, however their relationship wasn’t all the time so fraught with rigidity. Earlier than Lamar made his main label debut with 2012’s Good Child, M.A.A.D Metropolis, the Compton native and Drake have been on good phrases. Lamar made a visitor look on Drake’s 2011 […]
Throughout Sunday’s Oscars telecast, O’Brien additionally delivered some stinging one-liners about Greatest Actor nominee Timothée Chalamet and Greatest Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón.
Conan O’Brien speaks onstage throughout the 97th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 02, 2025 in Hollywood, California. Kevin Winter/Getty Photographs
“Timmy Chalamet is up for Greatest Actor tonight, you’re superb and also you look superb. I like that go well with. You’ll not get hit in your bike tonight,” O’Brien instructed the viewers inside Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, referring to the actor receiving a effective for taking a rideshare bike to the London premiere of A Full Unknown. “Secure! Superb actor. Timothée is nominated for his portrayal of Bob Dylan, yeah. Bob Dylan needed to be right here tonight, however not that badly.”
Addressing Gascón, whose previous offensive X posts resurfaced following her Oscar nomination for Emilia Pérez, O’Brien joked, “Karla, when you’re going to tweet concerning the Oscars, keep in mind, my title is Jimmy Kimmel.”
After Sunday’s ceremony, O’Brien revealed that he made modifications to his jokes on the evening.
“There are occasions the place you suppose, ‘We’ve bought a great joke right here, however I’m not gonna do it. It doesn’t really feel proper.’ We made a number of modifications backstage,” O’Brien instructed E! Information on the 2025 Vainness Honest Oscar Occasion. “You simply resolve, ‘Oh, it is a higher joke,’ otherwise you consider one thing within the second, and also you simply go along with it, and people may be blessings.”
The 2025 Oscars pink carpet has been rolled out, and stars arrived in lots of profitable kinds on Hollywood’s largest evening. When the 97th Academy Awards kicked off on Sunday, March 2, outdoors the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Dancing With the Stars choose Julianne Hough was among the many first on the crimson rug. She hit […]
Fortunately, O’Brien’s internet hosting type went down nicely with the A-listers in attendance.
“There’s the agony of earlier than — preparation, preparing — and that goes on for months. Then we labored so arduous that by the point we bought to the purpose the place it was time to go, I couldn’t wait. And it was a extremely nice crowd. They have been laughs, thank God,” he instructed E! Information.
