David Letterman recently questioned where Tom Cruise to the Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel when he made an appearance on last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!
And the former Late Night host wasn’t buying the official excuse.
“We don’t know where Tom Cruise was,” Kimmel said in response to Letterman’s query. “We heard production issues.”
Said Letterman, “What does that mean? That’s nonsense.”
Despite six Oscar nominations for Maverick (and one win, for Sound), Cruise did not attend Sunday’s awards ceremony, begging off due to scheduling conflicts. His absence sparked rumors rise to rumors that he feared Scientology jokes and/or running into ex-wife Nicole Kidman.
Kimmel sided with Letterman on the Risky Business actor’s excuse. “It’s very non-specific,” he said. “But we have no idea what happened,” adding, “It seems like he should’ve been there, but he was not there. Maybe he feels like he wasn’t going to win so he didn’t want to come.”
When Kimmel called the Cruise “the prince of Hollywood,” Letterman shot back, “More to the power of your success. If Mr. Big Shot was not there the show was still never more successful. Nice going, Jimmy.”
Letterman also had some questions about the Oscar appearance of Cocaine Bear, specifically regarding who was inside the hilariously bad costume. Kimmel has claimed that Will Smith’s former music partner DJ Jazzy Jeff was inside the fur suit.
“I know for a fact that that’s a lie,” Letterman said. “I know it wWhy wasn’t it me?”asn’t Jazzy Jeff.”
“It was,” said an unconvincing Kimmel. “It was DJ Jazzy Jeff. Did you see him?”
“It could have been me,” Letterman responded.
