Shortly after it aired, comedian and writer Skyler Higley—a former writer on Conan’s self-titled late-night show and a member of the team of writers Conan assembled for his Oscars gig—tweeted his thanks to the Academy for keeping the joke in,

The 97th Academy Awards brough plenty of laughs to the 2025 TV schedule, largely thanks to first-time host Conan O’Brien and his hilarious opening monologue. The former late night mainstay returned to live TV in spectacular fashion,

Xzibit has thrown his support behind Kendrick Lamar in his latest defense of the West Coast lyricist’s controversial lyrics labeling Drake a pedophile.

The Toronto rapper claimed that Universal Music Group made payments to iHeartMedia for airtime of Lamar's Grammy-winning diss track.

Oscars joke writer Skyler Higley defended the Kendrick Lamar and Drake joke he wrote for the 97th Academy Awards monologue. He explained the joke was in reference to the cultural moment and that O'Brien was not taking sides in the rappers' feud.

Host Conan O’Brien’s Kendrick Lamar and Drake joke paid off big time at the 2025 Oscars. Not only because it was really good, but also because it made one of his writers 50 bucks.