Apparently Robert Downey Jr. doesn't think Jimmy Kimmel's addiction joke he made at the 2024 Oscars at Downey Jr.'s expense was slap-worthy. The Oppenheimer Academy Award winner seems to have taken the quip in stride and isn't holding a grudge against Kimmel for it.

Esquire published a lengthy profile of Downey Jr. on Monday in which the reporter was with the actor the day after the Oscars ceremony, and asked how he felt about Kimmel's joke at his expense. “I don’t care,” Downey Jr. admitted.

“I love Jimmy Kimmel. I think he’s a national treasure,” he continued.

That's pretty forgiving for a joke that fell very flat at the award show, and was generally agreed to be poor taste (at the very least). While jokes about Downey Jr.'s sobriety were a frequent target for late night show hosts in the 90s, the actor has been sober for over 20 years and the swipe felt like a bit of a cheap shot — stunning many in the audience and singled out by many critics as the low point of the night for Kimmel.

The joke centered on Kimmel pointing out Robert Downey Jr. in the audience, praising his performance in Oppenheimer, and then saying “This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.'s long and illustrious career,” before adding, “Well, one of the highest points…”

Downey Jr. actually took the comment in stride even in the moment, gamely pointing to his nose during the bit (as if to say the joke was “a little on the nose”… or possibly he was making a drug use allusion… or both).

Downey Jr. actually got more of a laugh than Kimmel for the quick-witted response, and Kimmel could (and should) have stopped there — but he couldn't resist following up and asking Downey Jr. to clarify: “Was it too on the nose or was that a drug motion you made?”

As the discomfort set in even more, Downey Jr. said what most people were thinking and motioned to Kimmel “let's move on.”

Kimmel, usually a well-received staple of Oscars hosting duties at this point, took quite a bit of flak for the shade throwing, so it's interesting to hear Downey Jr. brush it off and even bestow praise on Kimmel.

It probably helped that the actor went on to win his first Oscar later in the broadcast for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer. He was also widely praised for having one of the most moving lines of the night in his acceptance speech, when he thanked his producer wife Susan Downey, telling her “You loved me back to life.”

Downey Jr. has been very open about his past struggles with addiction, including in the Netflix documentary he made about his father — “Sr.” He also opened his own acceptance speech with a self-deprecating joke, dead-panning “I'd like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy, in that order.”

So it seems Robert Downey Jr. isn't shying away about jokes from his drug-filled past, and is taking the high road when it comes to forgiving comedian Jimmy Kimmel for a rare comedic misfire.