A day after making an emotional return to his ABC late-night show following a six-day suspension, Jimmy Kimmel was back to cracking jokes about President Donald Trump.
Cheered on stage like a proper rockstar (or as he said, Jerry Springer), Kimmel revealed he’d heard from many people, including “one very special friend,” upon his return on the air — which turned out to be his show’s most-watched regularly scheduled episode ever, with a whopping 6.3 million viewers.
“A lot of people watched our show last night. I got so many texts from so many people. It made me realize how many of my friends are never watching the show at any other time,” Kimmel said.
Alluding to Trump, the late-night host joked, “I did hear from one very special friend moments after we taped our show last night: the mad red hatter.” He went on to read Trump’s Truth Social posts about his comeback, including “I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” to which Kimmel replied: “You can’t believe they gave me my job back?’ I can’t believe we gave you your job back. We’re even!”
Kimmel then continued reading Trump’s Truth Social posts about his show, one of which said he “puts the network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive democrat garbage.”
“Who puts the network in jeopardy? You hear that? There’s the threat again! This time, straight from FCC-biscuit’s mouth,” Kimmel joked. “He says, ‘I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 million dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers!’”
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Kimmel continued: “Only Donald Trump would try to prove he wasn’t threatening ABC by threatening ABC. And you almost have to feel sorry for the people who work for him who try to clean up the messes.”
Kimmel then explained that he talks about Trump “more than anything because he’s a bully.”
“I don’t like bullies. I played the clarinet high school, okay? I just don’t like it. Donald Trump is an old-fashioned ’80s movie-style bully, taking your lunch and money,” Kimmel joked.
“Rooting for this bully, I don’t care what side you’re on, it’s like rooting for Biff from ‘Back to the Future,’” Kimmel said, referrencing Robert Zemeckis’s cult movie trilogy. “Literally, Donald Trump was the model for Biff in ‘Back to the Future,’ and this is who people are cheering for. I don’t know about you, I’m with Marty McFly.”
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The return of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to ABC on Tuesday night marked a cultural milestone. It reached 17.7 million views on YouTube in 22 hours, making it his most-watched monologue ever on the platform. He choked up as he spoke about his comments about Charlie Kirk that resulted in his suspension, saying: “It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.”
“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” he continued. “I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion, and I meant it. And I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions. It was a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but to some, that felt ill-timed or unclear or maybe both, and for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset.
From Variety US