Jimmy Kimmel has been criticised for crashing Quinta Brunson’s Emmys acceptance speech with a misjudged skit.
On Monday night (September 12), Kimmel and actor Will Arnett presented the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. The skit saw Arnett drag Kimmel’s “passed out” body onto the stage, before placing him right next to the microphone.
READ MORE: Emmys 2022: the winners, losers, snubs and successes
But as Brunson – who won for her work on the ABC series Abbott Elementary – stepped onto the stage to accept her award, Kimmel continued the gag by pretending to be out cold, prompting Brunson to give her speech over his body.
Viewers soon took to Twitter to criticise Kimmel, with many describing the skit as “disrespectful”.
“Quinta Brunson deserved better than giving her acceptance over Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘dead’ body,” wrote one viewer.
Another added: “The choice to make Quinta Brunson step over Jimmy Kimmel to get to the mic and then play her off early was atrocious.”
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“Jimmy Kimmel RUINED Quinta Brunson’s onstage pictures!” said another. “He should have gotten his ass off the stage! Very disrespectful!”
Quinta Brunson deserved better than giving her acceptance over Jimmy Kimmel’s “dead” body. #Emmys #AbbottElementary pic.twitter.com/ofP5mkXpvy
— Garin Pirnia (@gpirnia) September 13, 2022
Jimmy Kimmel should have left the stage during Quinta’s speech. Highly disrespectful #Emmys
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 13, 2022
The choice to make Quinta Brunson step over Jimmy Kimmel to get to the mic and then play her off early was atrocious. #Emmys
— Hunter Ingram (@hunter_wesley) September 13, 2022
Quinta Brunson addressed Jimmy Kimmel laying on stage during her #Emmys acceptance speech: "I felt like the bit didn’t bother me that much…Tomorrow maybe I’ll be mad at him. I’m going to be on his show on Wednesday, so I might punch him in the face." https://t.co/Bm8Bfhyi0k pic.twitter.com/cMDuZbq0AQ
— Variety (@Variety) September 13, 2022
Despite the widespread outrage on social media, Brunson herself said she wasn’t too bothered about the gag, although she admitted that she may view it differently in time.
“I felt like the bit didn’t bother me that much – I don’t know what the internet thinks…” she told The LA Times when asked about it.
“I think in that moment, I was just really happy that it was Jimmy up there. I don’t know, tomorrow maybe I’ll be mad at him. I’m going to be on his show on Wednesday, so I might punch him in the face.”
On the night, Succession, Ted Lasso and The White Lotus were the biggest winners, while Euphoria star Zendaya made history as the youngest-ever person to win two Emmy awards.