Jimmy Kimmel joked that Will Smith should’ve slapped Ye at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
After cracking jokes about the bizarre festivities of Groundhog Day on Monday night’s episode of his late night show, Kimmel used his opening monologue to comment on the rapper’s headline-making red carpet appearance.
“Another rodent came out of his hole to hit the red carpet at the Grammys last night—none other than Kanye West,” Kimmel quipped at the one-minute, 24-second mark in the video linked below.
Kimmel cut to a clip of 47-year-old rapper and his wife Bianca Censori, 30, on the carpet of the Grammys on Sunday, showing the moment where she slowly dropped her fur coat to reveal a “invisible” dress that left nothing to the imagination.
“She was wearing nothing. This shows you just how much times have changed. Before [Donald] Trump, this would have been our whole monologue tonight. Now it's like the ninth craziest thing that happened this weekend,” he said.
Kimmel then pointed to another attendee, none other than Will Smith, who was on site to present a tribute to the late Quincy Jones. Of course, he didn’t miss an opportunity to reference the infamous moment Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars in 2022, and the subsequent 10 year ban he was handed, while joking about a potential path of redemption.
“And you know what's a shame? Will Smith, all he had to do was run out on that red carpet and slap Kanye," Kimmel joked. "I think all would be forgiven. He would be hosting the Oscars next year.”
Despite a prior claim made by Entertainment Tonight on an Instagram post, Ye and Censori were never escorted out of the Grammys following the nude dress stunt.
A source close to the situation told Complex that Ye, whose track “Carnival” was nominated in the Best Rap Song category, was in fact invited to the show but left after walking the carpet.
Ye celebrated that he and Censori “beat the Grammys” with a since-deleted post on Instagram. In a separate post, he claimed his wife was “the most googled person on the planet called Earth” on Tuesday.
