It may not be quite as controversial as what happened at the Academy Awards, but the controversial moment of the night for Monday night’s Primetime Emmy Awards came courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel. During the show, Quinta Brunson won her first Emmy for her writing on the hit comedy series Abbott Elementary. The award was presented to her by Kimmel and actor Will Arnett, and it was a gag the two worked out that wound up affecting Brunson’s acceptance speech.

Rather than approach the microphone as normal, Arnett was seen dragging out a lifeless Kimmel from the backstage area. Arnett joked that the Jimmy Kimmel Live host “couldn’t be here tonight” after getting “into the skinny margaritas.” The gag continued with Arnett revealing Brunson as the winner without Kimmel’s help, and the announcement resulted in tremendous applause from everyone in the room.

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After Brunson was handed her Emmy, she jokingly asked for Kimmel to wake up. Kimmel then put up a thumbs-up before feigning unconsciousness again, making it clear he wasn’t going anywhere. Brunson awkwardly moved on and delved into her acceptance speech, and it wasn’t until she left that he was removed from the stage. Many viewers watching at home were quick to criticize Kimmel’s behavior on social media, arguing that Kimmel’s commitment to the gag wound up overshadowing Brunson’s special moment.

“Quinta Brunson deserved better than giving her acceptance over Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘dead’ body,” one person said.

“The choice to make Quinta Brunson step over Jimmy Kimmel to get to the mic and then play her off early was atrocious,” another viewer tweeted.

Echoing many others, another tweet stated, “I don’t know of a better example of invasive white male privilege than Jimmy Kimmel laying in the middle of Quinta Brunson’s #Emmys2022 speech. He had no business/right to take up space in the way that he did.”

Quinta Brunson Will Likely Address the Situation on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

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Following her win, Brunson was asked by Variety how she felt about the awkward situation which was already sparking some backlash online. For her part, Brunson said it didn’t bother her all that much, though perhaps she’ll feel more angry about it by the time she appears on Kimmel’s show this week.

“I know Jimmy Kimmel, and I don’t know, I felt like the bit didn’t bother me that much. I don’t know what the internet thinks,” Brunson said, crediting Kimmel to be an early supporter of hers. “Jimmy gave me my big first late-night spot, and was one of the first people to see Abbott… so, I think in that moment, I was just really happy that it was Jimmy up there. I kind of consider him one of the comedy godfathers.”

She added, “I don’t know, tomorrow, maybe I’ll be mad at him. I’m going to be on his show on Wednesday, so I might punch him in the face.”

Should that happen, at least it wasn’t at the Emmys, lest the event pull an Oscars.