This year’s Oscars were filled with jokes and pranks from seasoned late-night show hosts. While Conan O’Brien, the host of the ceremony, was the primary comedian responsible for drawing laughter from the audience, comedian Jimmy Kimmel also presided over a segment that had the crowd laughing. Safe to say, it was a dig at the network giant CBS.
Free speech and CBS don’t go hand in hand, according to comedian Jimmy Kimmel
Kimmel drew gasps and muted laughs from the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles when he made a risky joke about free speech. While introducing the documentary categories, he stated that documentary filmmakers risk their lives while delivering a story to audiences and then served a controversial punchline.
“As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech… let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS,” Kimmel said.
The joke appeared to reference ongoing debates surrounding media censorship and broadcast decisions in the United States. Kimmel seemed to allude to claims that CBS had pulled certain segments and guests from being platformed due to alleged political pressure.
Notably, in February 2026, late-night host Stephen Colbert claimed that the media corporation blocked an interview with a representative from a political party due to concerns related to broadcast regulations. Furthermore, the joke draws relevance from Kimmel’s personal life as well, when his show was briefly suspended in September 2025 due to controversial comments he made about a now-deceased political commentator. This incident didn’t happen at CBS; it was network giant ABC that made the decision.
Apart from comments from Jimmy, the show was filled with light-hearted wisecracks and jokes from Conan O’Brien, who kept the 98th Academy Awards family-friendly and stayed away from courting any major controversy.
The jokes were largely at the expense of the celebrities gathered there, and they provided light-hearted entertainment for audiences tuned in to watch the show. Did you enjoy this year’s Oscars? Were you happy with the winners’ list? If not, which film would you have wanted to win that did not? Let us know in the comments section below.
