The 2025 Oscars host Conan O’Brien shocked viewers at home and in the audience when he referenced Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s feud in one of his joke. In one particularly crude moment, O’Brien, 61, referenced Lamar calling Drake a ‘pedophile’ in his chart-topping diss track Not Like Us.

The hit song got its most prominent placement yet last month when the 37-year-old rapper performed the song at the Super Bowl and gave the hit song the most prominent position in the show. However, Kendrick ultimately censored himself at the moment he would normally have called Drake a ‘pedophile,’ possibly to avoid potential legal action.

‘Well, we’re halfway through the show,’ O’Brien began innocently enough after a commercial break, ‘which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile.’ The joke instantly got a cheer from one well-placed woman in the audience, as well of plenty of laughter, along with a small smattering of groans.

The 2025 Oscars host Conan O’Brien shocked viewers at home and in the audience when he referenced Kendrick Lamar and Drake ‘s feud in one of his joke

‘Well, we’re halfway through the show,’ O’Brien began innocently enough after a commercial break, ‘which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile’; Drake is seen in 2022 in Atlanta

The joke referenced the feud and Kendrick’s chart-topping song Not Like Us, which he prominently performed at the Super Bowl last month. Conan paused for a moment before adding, ‘Don’t worry, I’m lawyered up.’ He didn’t linger on the controversial topic and switched effortlessly to paying tribute to the ceremony’s orchestra, which featured a sand worm from Dune playing the harp.

‘Drake catching strays at the oscars too???’ wrote Shea Serrano on X (formerly Twitter).

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‘Drake even getting whacked at the oscars,’ joked film critic Jourdain Searles. Jamele Hill shared a screenshot of John Lithgow looking ‘slightly disappointed,’ joking that he looked like ‘Drake watching the Oscars.’ Charlotte Clymer tweeted that ‘Drake hits the Triple Crown: getting dunked on at the Grammys, Super Bowl, and Oscars all in the same year.’ Another user added: ‘Drake is the first mfer to ever get demolished at the Oscars and the Super Bowl. It’s so over for him dude.’ The 97th Academy Awards are honoring the best films of 2024, with the star-studded ceremony being held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Conan paused for a moment before adding, ‘Don’t worry, I’m lawyered up.’

Several Oscars viewers reacted to Conan’s Drake joke on X (formerly Twitter)

Jamele Hill shared a screenshot of John Lithgow looking ‘slightly disappointed,’ joking that he looked like ‘Drake watching the Oscars.’

Charlotte Clymer tweeted that ‘Drake hits the Triple Crown: getting dunked on at the Grammys, Super Bowl, and Oscars all in the same year’

Another user added: ‘Drake is the first mfer to ever get demolished at the Oscars and the Super Bowl. It’s so over for him dude’