Jimmy Kimmel fired back at Trump’s Thursday comments encouraging ABC to fire the late night host “soon” during the latest episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
During the monologue for Thursday night’s episode, a screenshot of the president’s Truth Social post was shown, which reads, “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It better be soon!!!”
“If incompetently presiding over not just one of, but the lowest rating in history is the reason I should be fired, we should both be out of a job,” he said, as a photo of a headline stating Trump‘s approval ratings had slipped came on screen, continuing, “Because you’re not doing too good either.”
Kimmel also later argued that Trump’s outrage towards him was to serve as a distraction for more pressing political topics.
“And of course, all of this is is meant to distract us from the prices he didn’t lower on day one, and from the Trump-Epstein files that his attorney general refuses to release, and to distract us from the illegal war he started and can’t figure out how to get out of,” he said.
The latest feud between Kimmel and Trump errupted following comments the former made at a faux White House Correspondents’ he hosted on his late night show. Last Thursday, before the WHCD took place, Kimmel poked fun at the event, sharing jokes for his own dinner. He addressed the First Lady by noting, “Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
After the shooting at Saturday’s WHCD, Donald and Melania Trump both called for the late night host to be fired from Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the joke. However, during the Monday episode of his show, Kimmel did not apologize for what he called a “light roast” remark and pushed back on Melania and the president’s request: “You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We’ve all been there, right?”
The FCC then launched an early review of Disney‘s broadcast TV licenses on Tuesday. However, a Disney spokesperson told THR they were “confident that record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels. Our focus remains, as always, on serving viewers in the local communities where our stations operate.”
Kimmel continued to address Trump’s latest comments: “He also called into Newsmax this afternoon to call me a low life and demand I be fired again. This guy is so mad, you would think I posted a picture of seashells or something. Isn’t there a war dragging on? Imagine if FDR had taken to the airwaves during the Battle of the Bulge to complain about a Little Orphan Annie comic strip he didn’t like? Trump has three wars going on right now; Iranians, Ukrainians and comedians.”
Kimmel also noted that during “the campaign for president, there was a man, a very prominent Republican man, who seemed to be against this idea of muzzling people you don’t agree with.” He then showed a clip of Trump saying he was against “censorship, blacklisting and cancel culture.”
The late night host responded, “I hate to say this, and I hope it doesn’t get me in trouble, I’m starting to think Donald Trump might be a hypocrite.”
Kimmel also pushed back against Trump on Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, slamming the president for a joke he made at an event tied to the state visit by England’s King Charles. In the president’s speech, he recalled how his parents were married for 63 years, and told his wife, “That’s a record we won’t be able to match, darling. It’s just not gonna work out that way.”
“Wait a minute. Did he just make a joke about his death?” Kimmel joked during his monologue on Tuesday. “My God, you should be fired for that.”