Kimmel Wonders if Zelenskyy Could Have Compared Invasion of Ukraine to Nickelback at the Grammys (Video)

Someone should really give the Canadian rock band a hug

It’s a longtime sport among hipster and hipster-leaning music fans to diss the hell out of the Canadian rock band Nickelback. The general consensus is that they’re the worst band in the world, which really isn’t fair considering Imagine Dragons exists. But we aren’t here to insult those guys (especially since they’re richer than we’ll ever be), we’re just here to note that Jimmy Kimmel insulted them using current events.

The hook was the appearance, in a pretaped video, of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the 2022 Grammys on Sunday. Zelenskyy gave a short address imploring the world not to forget what is happening to his country, and contrasting the disaster that is Russia’s unprovoked invasion with the glamour and glitz of the Grammys.

Zelenskyy opened his remarks by calling war “the opposite of music,” and that was Kimmel’s jumping-off point during his Monday monologue on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” But before he got to that joke, he noodled around talking about the awards show overall.

“You know, last night at the Grammys, the big stars of music were in Las Vegas to receive trophies,” Kimmel said. “Justin Bieber was there wearing the same suit the kid who played young Tom Hanks at the end of the movie ‘Big’ wore. It wasn’t exactly the Oscars, but there were some memorable moments.”

“Doja Cat almost missed her acceptance speech because she was using the bathroom. See?” Kimmel continued. “This is why they need litter boxes under the seats. I’ve said it a million times.”

Then Kimmel got to Zelenskyy.

“Ukrainian President Zelenskyy made an appearance on the Grammys. He gave a heartfelt address to the audience. He said, ‘The silence of ruined cities and killed people. What is more opposite to music?’ Which is very profound,” Kimmel said. 

“What is more opposite to music?”I thought he was going to say Nickelback,” Kimmel continued, “which would have been a sick burn. But this was better. Keep it focused.”

Kimmel also roasted the attempts by congressional Republicans to cozy up to QAnon by falsely accusing Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson of coddling pedophiles, and by using the confirmation hearings to spread transphobic bigotry. And after that, he mocked Donald Trump for yet another very grifty thing the disgraced ex-president did. You can watch that and the rest of Kimmel’s monologue at the top of the page now.

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