Following his comedy skit during Monday night’s Emmy Awards, Jimmy Kimmel received criticism for what they perceived to be stealing Quinta Brunson’s thunder.
Will Arnett dragged Kimmel onto the stage while Kimmel pretended to have passed out from drinking too many margaritas during the presentation of the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series by Kimmel and Arnett. It was the “13th time in a row that he’s lost,” Arnett joked, adding that Kimmel had drowned his sorrows backstage.
The joke was stretched too far when Brunson took the stage to accept her first Emmy award for her ABC series Abbott Elementary and Kimmel stayed on stage, lying next to Brunson, making it impossible to record Brunson’s speech without including Kimmel’s body in the frame.
Jimmy, wake up. I won,” joked Brunson, trying to get Kimmel to get up off the floor. Kimmel gave him the thumbs up but didn’t get up, apparently thinking his skit was too funny to end. Brunson made the decision to ignore him and continued with her acceptance speech after a few awkward glances down. Arnett dutifully dragged Kimmel off stage after she was finished because Kimmel stuck with the joke all the way to the end.
As Abbot Elementary fans lashed out at Kimmel for stealing the show during Brunson’s big moment, Twitter quickly erupted in fury. Fans of Brunson, who have seen her progress from making popular Instagram videos for Buzzfeed to creating an Emmy-winning show, thought that Kimmel’s commitment to his joke was offensive and came off as extremely conceited.