President Donald Trump’s least-favorite late-night host has mocked the president by flexing over his increased ratings and engagement.
Jimmy Kimmel, 58, addressed his ongoing battles with Trump, 79, at the Disney Upfronts in New York on Tuesday, according to Variety. The annual industry event sees Disney showcase its upcoming content across ABC and streaming platforms such as Hulu and ESPN to advertisers and media.
“I’ve been through so much bulls--t this year, it actually made me appreciate this bulls--t,” Kimmel said, referencing ABC pulling a new season of The Bachelorette starring The Secret Lives of Mormon star Taylor Frankie Paul. “You see, in order for ABC to pull you off the air, you have to throw a chair at your Mormon boyfriend!”
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which airs on ABC, was temporarily suspended in September last year following pressure from Trump’s administration after MAGA reaction to a joke involving slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Trump has also regularly insulted Kimmel on social media, labeling him “seriously unfunny” and claiming he “incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television.”
After a joke about Melania in April, the president posted that Kimmel should be “immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Melania Trump joined the bandwagon, calling Kimmel’s late-night show “hateful and violent.” The talk show host said in a monologue that the first lady “had the glow of an expectant widow” just days before a gunman attempted to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with apparent designs on killing Trump.
“Yes, the President has tried to get me twice over the last six months. That’s one way to look at it,” Kimmel told the audience.
“Another way, you can also say I’ve generated unparalleled engagement across a variety of platforms,” the star said of views on social media and streaming, as well as traditional TV.
He continued, with a nod to Trump, “Largely thanks to our partners in Washington, we are up 25 percent. It’s a good deal to have the numbers go up nowadays.”
Referencing the iconic talk show icon who averaged around 9 million viewers a night at his peak, Kimmel noted, “With that said, if Johnny Carson woke up one day with my ratings, he had gone straight under the sink and took all the Drano.”
Kimmel’s first show back after the brief suspension drew over 6.3 million viewers, making it the show’s highest-performing regularly scheduled episode in over a decade. A typical episode attracts around 1.6 million viewers.
While the host has dominated the lucrative 18-49 demographic this year, his ratings actually spike after Trump insults him, according to LateNighter, which cites Nielsen data. The data measures live ratings plus viewing on demand within three days of the original broadcast.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! won its time slot in the last week of April, with 2.7 million viewers (a 27 percent increase), the same week Trump called for his firing. The two nights that Kimmel responded to Trump’s orders, the show’s total audience rose by 29 percent and 28 percent, respectively.
Kimmel’s YouTube channel surpassed 281 million views last year, with nightly monologues averaging more than 4 million views. Trump-related videos are his highest-performing content on the channel.
His YouTube channel has over 22 million subscribers, while the White House has three million.
However, the host did not shy away from the fact his feuding with Trump had cost Disney “a lot of money, billions.”
“It is very possible that no employee in the history of any company has cost their employer more than hiring me, 24 years ago,” Kimmel told the audience, many of whom advertise with Disney.
“Just from a purely mathematical standpoint, that was the worst personnel decision in the Disney Corporation. Not even the captain of the Exxon Valdez did more damage.”
Kimmel also hyped up Disney’s upcoming broadcast of the Super Bowl.
“This will be the first Super Bowl on ABC in 20 years and we are going to milk the bejesus out of it,” he said. “We are going to spend the whole year promoting the already most popular thing on Earth. And as if the country isn’t already divided enough, we put the game on Valentine’s Day, just to be d---s.”
Adding a joke about the MAGA melt down over anti-ICE musician Bad Bunny, who performed at this year’s Super Bowl, Kimmel said “Let me tell you what, the halftime show this year is going to be the whitest s--t you’ve ever seen. Goodbye, Bad Bunny. Welcome back, O-Town.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
