Jimmy Kimmel acknowledged the threats made by Donald Trump after his late-night show returned on Tuesday night, describing the president as an “’80s movie-style bully.”
On the latest episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel did a line-by-line takedown of Trump’s Truth Social post, which suggested he planned to sue ABC and accused the comedian of being “yet another arm” of the Democratic party. “I can’t believe ABC fake news gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” Trump wrote in the post.
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“You can’t believe they gave me my job back?” Kimmel responded. “I can’t believe we gave you your job back.”
“Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat garbage,” Trump’s post continued.
“You hear that?” Kimmel responded. “There’s the threat again. This time straight from FCC-biscuit’s mouth. 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!’ 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.”
Trump’s post closed with, “Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad ratings.” “And he does know bad ratings,” Kimmel said. “He has some of the worst ratings any president has ever had. So on behalf of all of us, welcome to the crappy ratings club Mr. President.”
Kimmel continued, “Next, he’ll try to sue us. And I want to say good luck with that because we thought about it, we packed the courts, and we have a surprise ace up our sleeve: Mr. Judge Steve Harvey.”
The host also responded to claims that “I go too hard on Donald Trump, to the point where there are still a lot of people who think I should be pulled off the air for making fun of Donald Trump.”
“So I want to explain: I talk about Trump more than anything because he’s a bully,” Kimme said. “I don’t like bullies – I played the clarinet in high school. I just don’t like them. Donald Trump is an old-fashioned ’80s movie-style bully taking your lunch money. And if you give it to him once, he’ll take it again. Two things he loves: lunch and money.”
He added, “Rooting for this bully, I don’t care what side you’re on, it’s like rooting for Biff from Back to the Future. 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.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live returned to air on ABC on Tuesday night after a week-long pause. Last week, the network abruptly suspended the long-running late-night series, citing an “ill-timed and thus insensitive” monologue in which the comedian criticized right-wingers for trying to “score political points” off the murder of Charlie Kirk. Kimmel kept quiet in the days that followed, while Hollywood raised its voice on his behalf.
Last night, Kimmel criticized the Trump administration’s attempts to pull him from the air. “I barely paid attention in school, but one thing I did learn from Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Howard Stern is that a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American,” he said. “And I am so glad we have some solidarity on that from the right and the left and from those in the middle, like Joe Rogan, maybe the silver lining from this is we found one thing we can agree on, and maybe we’ll even find another one. Maybe we can get a little bit closer together.”
The late-night show broke records during its return. The episode drew 6.3 million viewers, about triple its average ratings, despite a quarter of ABC stations in the U.S. not airing the show. A further 19 million watched Kimmel’s emotional 28-minute monologue on social media, with the number still climbing.
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