There have been more spats between Jimmy Kimmel and Donald Trump in recent months than between any other late-night talk show host and a sitting president in history. While Kimmel has claimed that Trump has tried his hardest to get the comedian sacked from his show on ABC, it is the president that has now (jokingly) put his job on the line thanks to the most ridiculous statement made while addressing this year’s nominees for the Kennedy Center Honors.
In a video shared online, Trump took the obligatory shot at his arch-nemesis, calling out Kimmel’s lack of talent (again), and noting that his own talent should outshine the talk show host, or he should not be the President of the U.S.A. Trump said:
“I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction, that this will be the highest rated show they have ever done, and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but it’s nothing like what’s going to happen tomorrow night. So I just want to thank you all. I want to congratulate you all. We have never had a president hosting the awards before, so this will be a first. I’m sure they will give me great reviews. They’ll say, ‘He was horrible,’ ‘He was terrible,’ ‘It was a horrible situation.’ No, we’ll do fine. I’ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible, and some of these people…if I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.”
We can expect to see a lengthy response from Kimmel during his first monologue of the week when Jimmy Kimmel Live returns to screens on Monday night. We will wait with bated breath.
Jimmy Kimmel and Donald Trump Really Don’t See Eye to Eye
For several years now, President Trump has made it clear that he has very little time for Jimmy Kimmel, which is a surprise as he spends so much of it trashing the late night host with long posts on his Truth Social platform. The beef really stepped up a gear when Trump berated Kimmel’s hosting skills online while Kimmel hosted the Oscars in 2024. This led to Kimmel going against advice and reading out the president’s rant live on air.
The pair have rarely stopped bickering since, and things seemed to come to a head in September when Kimmel’s show was pulled off-air after the host made some comments relating to the death of Charlie Kirk that did not sit well with some people and made Disney executives a little nervous. Kimmel’s suspension resulted in Trump making it clear that he was delighted with the news as he celebrated on his social accounts.
However, Kimmel was reinstated to record viewing figures, and the back and forth has continued ever since. This latest shot by the president is one that Kimmel will be more than happy to respond to, and on and on it goes.
- Release Date
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January 26, 2003
- Network
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ABC
- Writers
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Joel Hodgson, Sal Iacono, Tony Barbieri, Eric Immerman, Jonathan Bines, Rick Rosner, Bryan Paulk, Danny Ricker, Jeff Loveness, Josh Halloway, Bess Kalb