{"id":540242,"date":"2026-03-16T14:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/540242\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T14:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:14:09","slug":"conan-obrien-shocks-oscars-crowd-with-epstein-joke-in-opening-monologue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/540242\/","title":{"rendered":"Conan O\u2019Brien shocks Oscars crowd with Epstein joke in opening monologue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscars<\/a> host Conan O\u2019Brien shocked Hollywood A-listers with a \u201cpaedophile\u201d joke seemingly about Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor during his presentation of the 2026 ceremony<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The TV host and comedian didn\u2019t name the duo directly, but he referenced the furore surrounding the Epstein files when he made a point about the absence of any British acting nominees.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time since 2011, there are no British actors nominated,\u201d O\u2019Brien said, adding: \u201cBut at least they arrest the paedophiles over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crowd didn\u2019t seem to know how to react to the joke, with shock seeming to ripple across the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. However, applause then broke out.<\/p>\n

Millions of files related to the case of Epstein <\/a>were unveiled in January, linking the convicted paedophile to world figures<\/a>, including Bill Gates and US president Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it was disgraced royal former Prince Andrew \u2013 full name Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor<\/a> \u2013 who was arrested in February 2026 on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Investigators are trying to determine if Andrew sent sensitive government information to Epstein.<\/p>\n

\"Conan<\/p>\n

Conan O\u2019Brien\u2019s joke shocked audiences at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles (ITV)<\/p>\n

When the initial wave of emails was released in November 2025<\/a>, the US president was mentioned and, in one email, Epstein claimed Trump \u201cknew about the girls<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump told reporters that he \u201cknows nothing\u201d about the emails. The president has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has characterised efforts to release the full files as a \u201choax\u201d. He has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing, and an appearance in the Epstein files does not suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n

In January, comedian Nikki Glaser also made a joke about the Epstein files during the Golden Globes.<\/p>\n

Directing her attention to the high-profile crowd, which included stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Julia Roberts, Glaser admitted that she couldn\u2019t believe \u201cthe amount of star power we have in this room tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cIt\u2019s insane. There\u2019s so many A-listers. And by A lists, I do mean people who are on A lists that have been heavily redacted<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after being arrested in February (Reuters)<\/p>\n

The 2026 Oscars saw One Battle After Another take home Best Picture and Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson and Best Supporting Actor for Sean Penn, who snubbed the ceremony<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hamnet star Jessie Buckley won Best Actress while Michael B Jordan won Best Actor for Sinners. Meanwhile, Amy Madigan took home Best Supporting Actress for her role in horror film, Weapons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscars host Conan O\u2019Brien shocked Hollywood A-listers with a \u201cpaedophile\u201d joke seemingly about Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[119256,49,48,46774,142167,1376,75,12208,124842,18744,348],"class_list":["post-540242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-andrew-mountbatten-windsor","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-conan-obrien","tag-dolby-theatre","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-nikki-glaser","tag-oscars","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}