Top Gun: Maverick, had multiple Oscar nominations this year, which includes Best Picture, Writing, Film Editing, Sound, and more. However, despite its big category nominations, Top Gun star Tom Cruise was nowhere to be seen at the 95th Academy Awards ceremony due to reportedly avoiding getting a bruised ego from Jimmy Kimmel.
Variety reports that several insiders implied that Cruise refused to attend the Oscars ceremony after finding out that Judd Apatow, who recently hosted the 75th Directors Guild of America Awards in February with brutal jokes targeting Cruise, was helping with Kimmel’s monologue. The insiders’ input suggests that the actor is not at all fond of any more jokes targeted at his expense.
However, Jimmy Kimmel Live executive producer Molly McNearney, who also happens to be Kimmel’s wife, clarified with Variety that Apatow “was not writing or doing anything for the monologue” and debunked this report by saying Kimmel’s speech for Top Gun: Maverick contained nothing but praises, especially on how Cruise saved movies thanks to the sequel.
“Jimmy loves Tom. Tom had just been on the show the week before,” McNearney said, “And they talked about seeing each other and Jimmy was excited to tell him that we got real Navy pilots to do the flyover at the top of the Oscars. Jimmy was really disappointed he didn’t come.”
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McNearney continued on to say they didn’t get the chance to tell the original three-minute monologue to honor the Top Gun star since Cruise failed to attend the ceremony: “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.”
In spite of Jimmy Kimmel and Molly McNearney’s attempt to honor the Top Gun: Maverick star’s achievement, Tom Cruise was completely snubbed at the Best Actors nominations at the Oscars. Instead, Top Gun: Maverick received multiple nominations, and then ultimately won Best Sound award, beating Avatar: The Way of Water, The Batman, Elvis, and All Quiet on the Western Front.
Top Gun: Maverick is available to stream on Paramount+ and own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD.
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