President Trump seems determined to take Jimmy Kimmel off the air.
It first began when Trump administration officials pressured FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump ally, over a rift Kimmel made on his late-night show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Criticized MAGA’s response to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The campaign was so successful that not only was Kimmel suspended, but his show was temporarily taken off air in most homes. Trump, meanwhile, giddily praised censorship.
President Trump and his minions then went wild with a Kimmel joke about how Melania Trump looks like a “pregnant widow” as Trump looks emaciated and falls asleep during meetings. Even though the joke was made days before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump and Melania confused the premise with an assassination attempt on Trump that night. First lady Melania Trump has called on ABC to “stand strong” against Kimmel and urged the pro-Trump FCC to reconsider renewing licenses for eight ABC stations, while Trump has repeatedly called for Kimmel’s firing on social media and cable news.
“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 on Thursday. “People are angry. The sooner the better!!!” (Kimmel’s show has solid ratings.)
On Thursday night’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” the comic hit back at President Trump’s calls for his resignation with a relatively tame joke. First, Trump’s “Truth Social” posts were read aloud and displayed on a screen. The post drew loud boos from the crowd.
Kimmel pointed to Trump’s low presidential ratings, saying, “If incompetently leading one of us to the lowest ratings in history is the reason I should be fired, then we should both lose our jobs.”
“Isn’t there a war going on?” the comedian continued. “Imagine if FDR got on the airwaves during the Battle of the Bulge and complained about an ‘Orphan Annie’ cartoon he didn’t like. Trump has three wars going on right now: the Iranians, the Ukrainians, and the comedians.”
Kimmel then aired a montage of clips of “very prominent Republicans” (you guessed it, President Trump) slamming “censorship” and “cancel culture” on the campaign trail while praising “free speech.”
“I hate to say this, but I hope we stay out of trouble. I’m starting to wonder if Donald Trump is a hypocrite,” Kimmel jokingly called for a “ceasefire.”
He concluded by saying that President Trump’s mission to silence Kimmel is aimed at distracting us from the “Trump-Epstein file” and “the illegal war he started” in Iran.
