'Not Cool!': Jimmy Kimmel Slammed for Making 'Awful' Joke About Robert Downey Jr.'s Addiction at 2024 Oscars

Jimmy Kimmel was slammed for making an out of touch comment about Robert Downey Jr.'s addiction battle at the 2024 Oscars on Sunday, March 10.

"Congratulations to [Cillian Murphy's] costar Robert Downey Jr. This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.'s career," Kimmel, who is hosting the awards show, began. "Well, one of the highest points."

Downey Jr., 58, smiled at first and tapped his nose as people laughed out loud to Kimmel's remarks.

"Was that too on the nose or was that a drug motion you made?" Kimmel asked the actor.

Downey Jr., who has been sober since 2003, motioned to "wrap it up," but then changed his mind and said "keep it going" as the camera stayed on him.

Kimmel didn't stop there. "Look at this guy, he's so handsome, so talented. He's won every award there is to win. Is that an acceptance speech in your pocket or do you just have a very rectangular p----?" he said about Downey Jr.'s manhood. "Not even 20 years ago, things weren't going that great for Robert. He played the villain and, correct me if I have this wrong, in a movie where Tim Allen turns into a dog?"

"If you ever decide to remake that film, I have just the guy to play Tim Allen," Kimmel added, before the camera showed the dog Messi from Anatomy of a Fall. "Messi has an overdose scene, if you've seen it, you know it is incredible."

People didn't seem to appreciate Kimmel's humor as many social media users fumed about the interaction. One person wrote, "Dude...!! Seriously, with the Robert Downey Jr. thing!!! WTF!!!!!! Not cool!!!" while another said, "I wish Robert Downey Jr. slapped Jimmy Kimmel."

A third person added, "Jimmy Kimmel should know better than try and make fun of Robert Downey Jr. — specially about that, I'm so done with a------ presenters," while a fourth stated, "Jimmy Kimmel lost me with the 'joke' directed to Robert Downey Jr. The rest really are awful."

A fifth person was on Downey Jr.'s side, writing, "The joke Jimmy Kimmel made about Robert Downey Jr. was awful. Making fun of someone's past addiction struggle is not for comedic entrainment #Oscars."

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Downey Jr. previously spoke about a conversation he had with his wife, Susan Downey, that changed the Iron Man star's battle with addiction.

“It was the clearest conversation I’ve ever had in my life,” he recalled. “You know when someone is being so clear with you with something you go, ‘There is zero wiggle room here’?”