Oscars: 3-Minute Riff on Tom Cruise Was Cut From Kimmel's Monologue When Top Gun Star Was a No-Show

Jimmy Kimmel’s Oscars monologue would have zeroed in on Tom Cruise, yet steered clear of any danger zone, had the Top Gun: Maverick star actually attended Sunday night’s ceremony.

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Yet despite the blockbuster Top Gun sequel being up for a half-dozen Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Cruise opted to not even do a fly-by at the Dolby Theatre, and instead was a no-show.

As a result, Kimmel fired off only a few quips about Cruise, whereas an alternate draft of his monologue had a “three-minute chunk” dedicated to the man who, it has been said, saved the movies after years of pandemic-depressed box office numbers.

Had Cruise been in attendance, “We had about a three-minute chunk of the monologue dedicated to Tom Cruise, honoring him and his role in reviving the movie industry,” Oscars executive producer Molly McNearney (who is also Kimmel’s wife and a JKL EP) told our sister site Variety. “We were so disappointed when we learned a few days before the Oscars that he wouldn’t be there. Jimmy loves him and really wanted to celebrate him.”

Kimmel’s final monologue did take a jab at both Cruise and James Cameron for not being in the Dolby Theatre after lobbying moviegoers to return to theaters. There was also an “L. Ron Hubba Hubba” joke that alluded to Cruise’s advocacy for Scientology.

McNearney, though, said the “L. Ron Hubba Hubba” quip would not have been made if Cruise was present.

“Jimmy loves Tom. Tom had just been on [Jimmy Kimmel Live] the week before,” McNearney said.

The EP also dismissed the speculation that Cruise skipped the Oscars upon hearing that comedian and Scientology critic Judd Apatow was involved in shaping Kimmel’s monologue.

“Jimmy tends to send his monologue to a group of people he trusts, comedy writers and comedians” for feedback only, McNearney allowed. But, “No, Judd was not writing or doing anything for the monologue.”

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