David Letterman Asks Jimmy Kimmel Why “Mr. Big Shot” Tom Cruise Skipped Out on the 2023 Oscars

Jimmy Kimmel may have let Tom Cruise off the hook for skipping the 2023 Oscars, but David Letterman isn’t having it. The former talk show host visited Jimmy Kimmel Live to chat about his upcoming Disney+ documentary Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, but first, he had some questions about Kimmel’s recent experience hosting the Oscars – specifically why “Mr. Big Shot” Cruise wasn’t in attendance.

During the interview, the former television host recalled a “very close friend” telling him, “Dave, I want you to know something: in Hollywood, Oscar is king.” 

Letterman told Kimmel, “Truer words have never been spoken. So, you hosting the Academy Awards for a third time – and this was a sensational moment for the country, and the network, and yourself – you know what this makes you, don’t you?” He went on to dub Kimmel “the prince of Hollywood.”

This led to an interesting debrief session about the coveted event with Letterman stating that when he had hosted the show in 1995 it was “a bomb.” He also called Kimmel’s Cocaine Bear and Malala interaction as a standout moment.

Prefacing his forthcoming comment as “sensitive,” Letterman continued to ask Kimmel, “Where was Tom Cruise?” The talk show host answered, “We don’t know where Tom Cruise was. We heard production issues.”

Letterman further pressed the issue, stating, “What does that mean? That’s nonsense,” to which Kimmel agreed, adding, “Exactly. It’s very non-specific. But we have no idea what happened.” The guest, shot back, stating that Cruise “should’ve been” at the Oscars to celebrate “his big jet pack Maverick show.”

Kimmel responded, “Yeah. 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,” referring to a statement Letterman made at the top of their conversation.

Letterman shrugged off Kimmel’s excuse, telling him, “More to the power of your success, if Mr. Big Shot was not there and still the show has never been more successful. Nice going, Jimmy.”

Many have speculated over why Cruise was absent from the event with The Daily Mail reporting that it was because he wanted to avoid a run-in with his ex-wife, Nicole Kidman. Other sources claimed that the Top Gun actor’s absence was “not personal” and due to scheduling difficulties.

In an interview after the ceremony, Oscars producer Molly McNearney, also Kimmel’s wife, revealed that Kimmel had planned to dedicate a three-minute chunk of his opening monologue to Cruise’s work saving the movie industry with the release of his high-profile movie. She stated that Kimmel was “disappointed” when they “learned a few days before the Oscars that he wouldn’t be there.”

In lieu of the heartfelt dedication, Kimmel worked in a pointed jab at Cruise: “Everyone loved Top Gun. L. Ron Hubba Hubba, you know what I’m saying,” in reference to the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard.

Watch David Letterman’s full appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in the video above.