Since the late 1980s, nearly every host of the Academy Awards has hosted multiple times. Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Kimmel, etc. But not David Letterman. His one and only stint hosting the Oscars in 1995 was poorly received, with the New York Times writing at the time, “As the stars glittered, Dave fizzled.” But the harshest criticisms came from Letterman himself, who said in 2020, “To this day, it is the single greatest professional embarrassment of my career, through nobody’s fault but my own.”
Letterman is willing to laugh about his experience as host, though, as he showed in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel on Monday about the incident during last night’s Oscars (you know the one).
“I want to talk a little bit about Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Academy Awards. People will say, ‘Well, Dave, what do you know about this?’ and I will just remind you that I actually hosted the Academy Awards. It was in the 1940s,” he joked. “All I can say, and say what you will, read what you will, think what you will about my performance the night I hosted the Academy Awards. But, and here’s my point, no one got hit. No one was hit that night that I hosted. That’s all I have to say. God bless America. God bless the Academy Awards.”
You can watch Dave’s video above.
Source: https://uproxx.com/movies/david-letterman-will-smith-chris-rock-oscars-slap/