Oscar scandal:

Jimmy Kimmel shocked with Auschwitz joke

Host Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Oscar night at the legendary Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

(Bild: Avalon.red / Action Press / picturedesk.com)

Many German media reacted with great indignation to a joke by presenter Jimmy Kimmel after the Oscars gala. 

The British production "The Zone of Interest" by Jonathan Glazer, starring German actress Sandra Hüller, won Oscars for Best International Film and Best Sound.

"The Zone of Interest" in Germany "Rom-Com"
The film depicts the everyday life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family, who lived right next to the concentration camp. However, it was not the film itself that caused a stir, but a joke by presenter Jimmy Kimmel.

In his opening monologue, Kimmel said: "For the first time ever, three foreign-language films have been nominated for 'Best Film', two of them with Sandra Hüller in the leading role. Sandra plays a woman on trial for the murder of her husband in 'Anatomy of a Case' and a Nazi housewife living near Auschwitz in 'The Zone of Interest'. While these are very heavy subjects for American moviegoers, in Sandra's native Germany they are called rom-coms (romantic comedies)."

Sandra Hüller plays a writer accused of murdering her husband and a Nazi wife who lives next door to Auschwitz. For US moviegoers, this is tough stuff. In Sandra's native Germany, they call them rom-coms."

Kimmel über Sandra Hüller

"Tasteless"
 The comparison of the Holocaust drama "The Zone of Interest" with a romantic comedy offended many viewers.

Kimmel was criticized on social media. "Unbelievably tasteless", "disrespectful towards the victims of the Holocaust" and "a low point of the Oscars" were just some of the comments.

Sandra Hüller was the victim of a tasteless joke by Kimmel at the Oscars.

(Bild: APA/Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Sandra Hüller reacted in agony
Sandra Hüller herself, who was sitting in the audience, tried to smile the situation away. But her facial expression revealed that she found Kimmel's joke anything but amusing.

Kimmel also found something to joke about in his own country. He pretended to have received a scathing criticism from recent presidential candidate Donald Trump, which he acknowledged with the words "Isn't it time for jail?".