Next year’s Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel has revealed the surprisingly low figure he’s being paid to present the telecast in two months’ time.

Speaking to KROQ’s ‘The Kevin & Bean Show’ on Wednesday (December 14th), the 49 year old ABC late-night talk show host revealed that he was receiving just $15,000 as a fee for hosting the Academy Awards in Los Angeles next month.

Jimmy KimmelJimmy Kimmel and his wife Molly McNearney

Many quickly expressed surprise at the figure, equivalent to £12,000, considering the scale and exposure of the job, but Kimmel said that he was taken aback at being offered the opportunity in the first place. “They asked like 14 people and they all said no and then there was me. I absolutely was surprised.”

Kimmel’s turn at presenting the Oscars takes place on Sunday February 26th, and his position was announced a couple of weeks ago, a short time after he had hosted the Emmys for the second time.

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“That's what they told me,” he replied when quizzed whether his pay was equivalent to that of previous hosts, but then wondered whether people receive a raise for further appearances as emcee. “I'm not sure I was supposed to reveal this,” he chuckled, “but nobody told me not to. I consider this their fault.”

Joking that there was only one reason he was being paid at all, he said: “You know why? I think it’s illegal to pay nothing.”

In recent years, ABC has followed up its Oscars coverage with an aftershow, traditionally presented by Kimmel himself in a special edition of his regular late night show ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Asked whether he’ll be able to do so this time, considering he’s actually hosting the ceremony, he replied optimistically “we’ll figure something out”.

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