Jimmy Kimmel’s playing dead bit during Quinta Brunson’s Emmys speech is DOA with social media users

Jimmy Kimmel’s playing dead bit during Quinta Brunson’s Emmys speech is DOA with social media users
NBC/Chris Haston

(NOTE LANGUAGE) At Monday night’s 74th Annual Emmy Awards, there was no actual celebrity slap, but some on social media say there was a backhanded one at Emmy winner Quinta Brunson — and Jimmy Kimmel is to blame.

Will Arnett and Kimmel were to announce the winners for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host apparently thought it would be funny to have Arnett literally drag him across the stage to the microphone as he played dead.

Arnett joked it was the, “thirteenth time in a row” that Kimmel lost in the talk show category, and “he just got into the skinny margaritas back there.”

Kimmel remained on his back, even as Abbot Elementary‘s Quinta Brunson was announced as the winner, with Arnett having to move the prone talk show host’s body out of Brunson’s way to accept.

The Internet didn’t like that bit one bit.

“Jimmy Kimmel not moving to get out of Quinta Brunson’s way is a (sh***y, selfish, bulls***) choice,” opined Andy Dehnart, secretary of the Television Critics Association.

Journalist Ernest Owens offered, “Can’t lie, I’m still annoyed that Jimmy Kimmel’s annoying a** was on the ground trying to take attention away from Quinta Brunson’s historic victory” — a thought echoed by plenty of others online.

For the record, Brunson played along with the routine onstage, saying “Jimmy, wake up. I won.” Backstage, she called Kimmel “one of the comedy godfathers,” and admitted she was “wrapped up in the moment,” and didn’t Kimmel’s antics much thought. However, she allowed “the Internet” may feel differently.

“Tomorrow maybe I’ll be mad at him,” Brunson continued. “I’m gonna be on his show on Wednesday, so I might punch him in the face. I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”

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