From the very first minute of the show, Jimmy Kimmel made jokes about O.J. Simpson at the Emmys throughout his monologue. No, it's not suddenly 1994 again, Kimmel was able to bring Simpson jokes back to the forefront thanks to American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, the FX series that captured everyone's attention earlier this year. The Ryan Murphy show featured an amazing ensemble cast of actors from John Travolta, to Sarah Paulson, to Cuba Gooding Jr., so, yeah, it was a pretty great series. It garnered a total of 22 nominations, and I have a feeling it'll clean up during the Emmys.
But, the show and its subjects weren't just being mentioned in their categories, they were featured in several jokes throughout the night. I mean, Kimmel made seven jokes about Simpson and the people involved in his case in his opening speech alone. In case you missed the first few minutes of the show, or the jokes were just so rapid-fire that you didn't catch them all (I wouldn't blame you), I rounded up all the Simpson mentions from the night. Who would have thought he'd still be so talked about 20+ years later?
Kimmel's Ride To The Event
The show started with host Kimmel attempting to make it to the Emmys venue. He began his journey in a white Bronco, but when his driver started fleeing the cops and going the wrong way, Kimmel hopped out of the infamous vehicle.
The Rules Of The Winners
As Kimmel put it, "If your show doesn't have a dragon or a white Bronco in it, go home."
The Marcia Clark Shoutout
Sarah Paulson, who played the attorney in the FX series, brought the real Marcia Clark as her date, earning her the "plus-one contest" award according to Kimmel. He then followed it up with a jab about Clark losing the trial. "Everyone in LA knows if you wanna win, sit next to Marcia Clark." Ouch.
Who To Root For?
Kimmel made a couple of jokes about how, this time, people would be supporting Simpson, or, at least, his on-screen counterpart, Cuba Gooding Jr. "Are you rooting for O.J. to win this time?" Kimmel asked Clark before moving on to John Travolta, asking, "If you win, are you gonna thank O.J.? How do you handle that? Technically you wouldn't be here without him, right?"
Praise For Cuba Gooding Jr.
While Simpson was acquitted in his criminal trial, Kimmel joked, "Cuba Gooding Jr. was so good in the The People vs O.J. Simpson. He played O.J. so well, I now believe Cuba may have done it."
Juice, Juice, Juice
Kimmel passed out snacks to the stars, and he gave American Crime Story actor David Schwimmer carton after carton of juice... as in O.J. Simpson's nickname. Hardy har.
Too Soon
After Courtney B. Vance won for playing Johnnie Cochran, Kimmel mentioned him in a joke saying, "I have to believe Johnnie Cochran is somewhere smiling up at us tonight... too soon?"
And, most of these jokes were just in the first 15 minutes of the show.
