Eagle-eyed Banshees of Inisherin fans might have wondered if the donkey Jimmy Kimmel brought onstage during the 2023 Oscars was indeed Jenny, the miniature donkey, from the Academy Award-nominated Searchlight film.
While a Searchlight source confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter Sunday night that the animal was not the fan-favorite creature from the Banshees of Inisherin, the identity of Kimmel’s emotional support animal initially remained unknown.
On Monday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host confirmed that the animal “wasn’t Jenny.”
“It wasn’t even a female donkey,” he added. “The donkey’s name is Dominic. It was a male donkey.”
Beyond that, Kimmel revealed that his animal wasn’t even from Ireland, where Banshees was filmed and Jenny is said to be spending her early retirement. Instead, he was a local donkey.
“We didn’t think it was a good idea to fly a donkey over from Ireland, so we hired an L.A. donkey,” Kimmel said, before joking of the Hollywood animal. “Maybe you noticed the lip fillers and the implants.”
And he apologized for misleading the audience.
“To anybody who’s upset that they didn’t get to see the bonafide donkey, we’re very sorry,” Kimmel said. “I want to apologize on behalf of the Academy. It’ll never happen again, I promise you.”
Indeed, the real Jenny’s whereabouts, as THR recently discovered, are “a closely guarded secret.” After filming wrapped on Banshees, Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, which was nominated for, but lost, nine Oscars, producers paid for Jenny to have an early retirement, with McDonagh telling THR, “We just didn’t want her to be doing any shit films.”
Yet, as THR was unsuccessful in efforts to track her down, it seems Jenny is now being kept out of the spotlight
“We just want her to enjoy her retirement in peace,” an exec previously told THR.
Another animal mystery around the 2023 Oscars involved wondering who was in the suit of the Cocaine Bear who presented with Elizabeth Banks.
On Monday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host recapped some Twitter guesses: Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain and Timothée Chalamet.
It was “none of those people,” he said.
“It was a celebrity, that is correct,” Kimmel said, amid a drumroll.
He then said, “That celebrity was DJ Jazzy Jeff,” sharing what looked like a Photoshopped image of Will Smith’s musical partner in a bear suit backstage.
He continued, as the audience laughed, “And that’s not a lie. That’s absolutely true and I would like everyone to report that.”
A rep for Jimmy Kimmel Live! has not yet responded to THR‘s request for comment on who was inside the bear suit.
