After thunderous applause, Meryl Streep took the stage on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Thursday night alongside the beleaguered host during a whirlwind promotional tour for the much-anticipated sequel, The Devil Wears Prada 2.
“How are you?” Streep asked, clearly referring to President Trump multiple times out loud, and calling for the host to be fired on every conceivable platform after making a joke about President Melania Trump looking particularly frail and sleepy lately, making her look like a “pregnant widow.”
“When will the ABC Fake News Network fire the totally unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently hosts one of the lowest-rated shows on TV?” Trump posted on Truth Social earlier in the day. “People are angry. The sooner the better!!!” (Kimmel’s show has solid ratings.)
“I’m holding back,” Kimmel told Streep.
“You’re a prince. You’re a Templar,” Streep exclaimed. “You are flying the flag of freedom of the press.”
When he sheepishly replies, “I’m just trying to make a joke,” the actress tells him, “We’re all counting on you. And the world is listening. I just came from all over the world.”
Streep knows a thing or two about press freedom, having won acclaim for her role as famed Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham in the 2017 film The Post, about the newspaper that publishes the Pentagon Papers.
