Given that he's done a bang up job at the Emmys on two occasions and is arguably the most popular late night host in America right now, it wasn't really a surprise for anyone when Jimmy Kimmel was named as the 2017 Oscars host.
Except of course for the man himself.
"I absolutely was surprised." Kimmel said during an appearance on The Kevin and Bean Show yesterday, adding "They asked like 14 people and they all said no and then there was me," in reference to the unusually late announcement that he'd gotten the gig.
The Oscars is the most prestigious awards show in Hollywood so one would expect that as host, Kimmel would be well compensated for his work on the show. However, the late night host revealed his pay cheque for the gig and it's a lot less than one would expect for an awards show attended almost exclusively by millionaires.
According to Kimmel he'll be getting paid $15,000 for his services on the night. Kimmel even joked that there was a reason he was getting paid at all.
"You know why? I think it's illegal to pay nothing."
When asked whether that figure was on par with previous hosts such as Chris Rock, Kimmel confirmed with "That's what they told me," but pondered whether hosts receive a raise for return appearances as emcee.
"I'm not sure I was supposed to reveal this," he said with a laugh, "but nobody told me not to. I consider this their fault."
$15,000 is certainly a lot less than we would have expected an Oscar host to be paid but we guess they do it for the acclaim rather than the pay. It does look pretty good on the CV we suppose.
Via THR
