Last week, Jimmy Kimmel teed off on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)—who believes that the Jews control the weather with a space laser and compared wearing a mask during the pandemic to the Holocaust—for reporting him to the Capitol police over a joke made at her expense. (The joke: “Where is Will Smith when you really need him?”)
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host revisited the hullabaloo on Monday night’s show.
“Meanwhile, I had a whole thing with Marjorie Taylor Greene and the Temple of Dumb this weekend,” Kimmel explained. “You may have heard: The congress-monster is not happy about a comment I made about her on the show. She even called the cops on me. Me, she would like arrested, but the people who attacked the Capitol? It’s time to drop that already.”
The late-night comedian then threw to a clip of Greene speaking to a reporter on Capitol Hill and saying of the Jan. 6 insurrection that left several people dead in an attempt to overthrow the presidential election, “You know what I think? I think the American people are fed up with this overdramatization of a riot that happened here at the Capitol one time.”
“One time! If it happens again, we’ll look at it!” Kimmel replied. “I feel like Marjorie Taylor Greene is a phenomenon that could have been prevented with a high enough dose of Valtrex.”
Then, the comic cut to footage over the weekend of Greene appearing on a podcast alongside another frequent Kimmel comedy target, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), with both complaining about Kimmel.
“Jimmy Kimmel is a total jerk,” said Gaetz. “And it seems that his trend is to attack women, which is particularly troubling.”
“Says the guy who is currently under federal investigation for sex trafficking, obstructing justice, and paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl,” fired back Kimmel. “But keep going. I want to see where this is headed.”
Cue Gaetz on the pod: “His critiques, of particularly you and our colleague Lauren Boebert, are highly gendered critiques. Because he’s [saying], oh, you’re a ‘Klan Mom,’ right? So, he’s attacking you as a mom and as a woman. And he attacks Lauren Boebert and says, oh, she looks like ‘stepmom porn.’ See how he does that?”
“That’s not fair at all. I make jokes about men too. I made jokes about you, in fact,” said Kimmel. “Remember when I said I feel bad for you because you didn’t have a girlfriend in high school until you were 30? Remember when I said your political background will come in handy when you’re a registered sex offender because you’re used to knocking on strangers’ doors to introduce yourself?”
He added, “Apology accepted, Matt.”
For the record, Gaetz is still under federal investigation for his ties to a sex trafficker, and in addition, sources told CNN that the congressman “allegedly showed off to other lawmakers photos and videos of nude women he said he had slept with… including while on the House floor. The sources, including two people directly shown the material, said Gaetz displayed the images of women on his phone and talked about having sex with them. One of the videos showed a naked woman with a hula hoop, according to one source.”