Oscars author wins $50 guess over host Conan O’Brien’s joke about Kendrick Lamar and Drake

The author behind host Conan O'Brien's joke about Kendrick Lamar and Drake on the 2025 Oscars knew the road would elicit large laughs from the viewers.

Throughout final evening's telecast from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, O'Brien appeared on stage in the course of the present's midway level and quipped to the viewers, "We’re midway by the present, which suggests it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to return out and name Drake a pedophile." Taking a beat, he added, "Don’t fear, I’m lawyered up."

Oscars crowd loudly reacts to Conan O'Brien joke about not being afraid to face as much as a strong Russian

Comic and author Skyler Higley, who has written for O'Brien's Conan and Taylor Tomlinson's After Midnight, shared in a put up on X (previously often known as Twitter) that he wrote the joke in query "and guess our govt producer $50 that it could kill." Sure, he acquired the $50.

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Leisure Weekly has reached out to reps for the telecast and O'Brien for remark.

The joke was in reference to Lamar's celebrated halftime present on the Tremendous Bowl LIX in New Orleans final month, the place the headliner carried out, amongst different hits, his common diss observe "Not Like Us." The track options the next lyrics about Drake: "Licensed Lover Boy? Licensed pedophile." (Licensed Lover Boy references the identify of one among Drake's albums.)

The track is at the moment on the middle of a lawsuit that Drake has filed in opposition to Common Music Group, his personal file label that additionally represents Lamar, that alleges defamation and harassment. The Canadian rapper, actual identify Aubrey Graham, accuses the file label of aiding to unfold the "false and malicious" narrative about him being a pedophile.

Conan O'Brien kicks off Oscars with Karla Sofía Gascón jokes: 'She tweeted what?'

O'Brien, in his triumphant internet hosting debut, didn’t draw back from addressing scorching subjects head on, together with the controversy surrounding Emilia Pérez star and Finest Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón. Gascón, who had largely been absent from the awards present circuit, attended final evening's ceremony after a contentious awards season that noticed her criticized and ostracized as a consequence of resurfaced, offensive feedback she made up to now about Islam, the Black Lives Matter motion, and variety on the Oscars.

“Little reality for you: Anora makes use of the F-word 479 instances. That’s three greater than the file set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist," joked O'Brien in his monologue. The digicam then minimize to Gascón, who took the ribbing in stride. “Karla, in the event you’re going to tweet concerning the Oscars, bear in mind, my identify is Jimmy Kimmel," added O'Brien.

See the complete listing of Oscars winners right here.

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