Conan O'Brien makes unexpected Epstein joke leaving Oscar viewers shocked

Viewers of last night's Academy Awards are still reeling from a joke Conan O'Brien made that alluded to the Epstein files.

The comedian appeared on stage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday (15 Mar), where he hosted the Oscars for the second year in a row.

Prior to kicking things off, however, O'Brien, 62, delivered an opening monologue aimed at setting the mood for the evening.

After a series of jokes on Timothée Chalamet's controversial ballet comments, and his crush on If I Had Legs I'd Kick You co-star Rose Byrne, the TV host made a more tongue-in-cheek attempt at humour, making a 'paedophile' joke that seemed related to be about Jeffrey Epstein.

O'Brien's quip started off with an acknowledgement of the lack of UK-born actors nominated for awards this year.

"For the first time since 2012, there are no British actors nominated," he began, going on to jestingly claim: "A British spokesperson said, 'Yeah, but at least we arrest our paedophiles'."

O'Brien's joke was met with a mixture of gasps and applause.

Epstein was a paedophile financier who was friends with some of the most influential and wealthy people on the planet. He took his own life in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in a New York jail.

In 2008, he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted on sex trafficking charges in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

No one else has faced charges surrounding Epstein's crimes, and the US government has been under immense pressure to release all the documents they hold related to the Epstein case.

They finally did so back in January, sharing 3.5 million pages of documents with the public.

At the Academy Awards, One Battle After Another was the big winner, winning six awards following 13 nominations.

These included Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Sean Penn), Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson, Best Adapted Screenplay (again for PTA), Best Film Editing for Andy Jurgensen and the inaugural Best Casting award for Cassandra Kulukundis.

Sinners - which broke the record for the most Oscar nominations of all time with 16 - came away with four wins: Best Actor for Michael B Jordan's double performance as twins Smoke and Stack, Best Cinematography for Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Best Original Screenplay for Coogler, and Best Original Score for Ludwig Goransson.