Jelly Roll has revealed why he ridiculed Donald Trump.
The 41-year-old rapper turned country star stunned some in MAGAworld when he used his guest host slot on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week to trash the president and call him fat.
The “Need a Favor” singer spoke out Thursday on the show about the reactions to his guest-host stint and his appearance at the Grammy Awards in February, when he bagged three awards but then failed to follow the night’s other winners and condemn the actions of ICE and the Trump administration’s mass deportation push.
“A lot of people seem to think these Jimmy Kimmel writers have secretly been pulling the strings and forcing this good old country boy to poke fun at our commander-in-chief,” he said, wearing a Kimmelian suit and a black tie.
“But let’s be real about this, y’all. Do you think I would take orders from some sweaty little dork named Josh? No, I was just telling it like it is, and for some reason, that seemed to freak a lot of people out.
“It is funny that before this week, everybody thought I was MAGA, and now they think I’m some sort of liberal snowflake.
“I guess I’m just not used to people projecting their beliefs onto me.”
Later in the heartfelt speech, he explained that point in more detail, directly tackling his decision not to speak about ICE.
“For the last six months, I’ve watched people decide who I am, what I am, what I believe, what I support, and what I don’t support. And I felt that even more this week, just because I told a couple of jokes,” he said during the monologue.
“And honestly, this goes back further for me, y’all. This goes back to February this year. I won my first Grammy. Actually, somehow on that night, I won three of them.”
The Tennessee native said his Grammy night “was the single greatest moment and the greatest honor of my career. I got called on that stage. I got handed an award that I’ve been dreaming about since I was a child. And immediately after, I was asked to make what I felt at the time was a political stance.
“I fumbled my words. Looking back, I don’t necessarily regret asking for more time before I spoke. I wish more people took more time before they spoke.
“But I do wish I had found the words to express my heart just a little bit sooner.
“But I was afraid that anything I was going to say was going to be immediately taken as a political statement. And ironically, by trying so hard not to make a political statement, I became one.
“I spent my entire career trying not to belong to a political party. Partly because until March of this year, I wasn’t even allowed to vote. But now that I have that right, it’s one I plan to exercise this coming November.”
Real name Jason Bradley DeFord, the star couldn’t vote because of his past criminal convictions.
The “Save Me” singer then spelled out how his “calling” is to “represent those without representation” “because I know those people. Those are my people. I try to speak for the unspoken.”
“And that night at the Grammys, I had an opportunity to speak up for people who were scared, hurting, and felt like nobody was speaking for them. I had a microphone, and I didn’t use it the right way.”
Prior speculation about Jelly Roll’s political beliefs was fueled by images of him and Trump shaking hands at a Madison Square Garden UFC fight in 2024. But now the “Wild Ones” singer has said that he did so to honor his late veteran father.
“This might be a hot take, but out of respect for him [his dad] and everybody who has ever served and continues to serve this country, I will always shake the hand of the sitting president of the United States when asked,” he said. “My father would have been disappointed had I done anything other than that.
“I’m proud that I was able to shake the president of the United States’ hand. I’m also proud that I live in a country where I can make jokes about him. Ain’t that what’s great about being an American? The democracy, the freedom, the freedom of speech.
“And y’all know what I’m talking about. The same freedom of speech that both sides of the aisle claim they want until they hear something they don’t want to hear.
“And I will shake the hand of any president that occupies that office because a handshake is not an endorsement.
“A conversation is not an allegiance and a joke is not a political point of view. And in my business, taking a picture with a political figure, or anybody else for that matter, doesn’t mean you agree or disagree with their policies or politics. More often than not, I don’t.”
