Jimmy Kimmel leaves Oscars audience stunned as he makes Robert Blake joke days after his death
Stewart Perrie
Featured Image Credit: ABC/Francis Specker / Alamy Stock Photo
Jimmy Kimmel has been dishing out joke after joke as he hosts the 95th Academy Awards.
He's had the audience at The Dolby Theatre in Hollywood chuckling along all night.
However, he's just served up a punchline that left some people in the crowd a little silent.
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He told everyone to phone in their votes to get Robert Blake included in the In Memoriam section that honors those who have died in the past year.
Blake was an Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died on Thursday at age 89.
A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.
Blake, star of the 1970s TV show Baretta, had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001.
Many thought joking about any aspect of his death was pretty rogue.
One viewer said: Jimmy Kimmel 's comment on whether to include Robert Blake in the memoriam was in poor taste and uncalled for."
Another added: "The #RobertBlake jab was totally unnecessary & ignorant, wasn't my fav, but was making movies of substance before 90% of the audience was born. He deserved some respect as an actor. Also whatever the dumb remark about Rhianna & Royalty was incredibly stupid & classless"
A third wrote: "The Oscars have been great tonight - a fine show; a throwback to the old days with more categories and limited speeches and no politics. It was disappointing to just hear the 'comedic' comment by the host regarding Robert Blake and whether he should be mentioned in the 'in Memoriam' segment. That was a cheap shot that just was not funny and not in the spirit of the show."
A fourth commented with: "OK not funny. ROBERT BLAKE joke. YOU WISH you had his talent. I don't care if he was involved in the murder, he was acquitted. That's how our system works. The man is barely cold. Have a little decorum. JEEZ."
Blake has been in dozens of films and TV shows after getting his start in the late 1930s as a child star under the name of Mickey Gubitosi.