Jimmy Kimmel responded to Donald Trump’s threats to have him fired by flipping the script on the president.
The president has been attacking the late-night host over his parody of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where a gunman targeted Trump and senior officials—even though Kimmel’s parody ran two days before the ill-fated event on Saturday night.
“Look at Melania, so beautiful,” Kimmel, 58, said in his mock WHCD monologue on April 23. “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
By Monday, MAGA was in an uproar about Kimmel’s remarks. The first lady called Kimmel a “coward” and accused his network, ABC, of protecting him. Both she and her husband demanded that Kimmel be fired. “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” wrote Trump on April 27.
The president has now doubled down on his demands, raging at Kimmel in another Truth Social post on April 30.
“When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It better be soon!!!” the 79-year-old president wrote.
Kimmel fired back at Trump’s latest attack on him, saying, “If incompetently presiding over not just one of, but the lowest ratings in history is the reason I should be fired, we should both be out of a job, because you’re not doing too good either.”
Kimmel continued, “I do want to commend the small handful of Republicans who’ve spoken out to support our First Amendment rights—Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Rand Paul, and Congressman James Comer.
“Every one of these guys I’ve made fun of repeatedly and viciously on this show, and you know what? Not one of them has pressured ABC to fire me for it.”
The ABC host called Trump a “hypocrite” for centering the idea of canceling cancel culture and uplifting free speech throughout his campaign for president. Kimmel played footage of Trump speaking about this at several rallies and events. “We reject censorship, blacklisting, and cancel culture, because we know the lifeblood of a free society is free speech,” the president said in one clip. He even suggested once that, “The goal of cancel culture is to make decent Americans live in fear of being fired.”
“I don’t think I qualify,” joked Kimmel.
The late-night host compared Trump’s rant against him with his fresh threats to Iran, which read, “Iran can’t get their act together. They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!” The president topped it off with a picture of himself holding an assault rifle and standing in front of a country exploding with bombs. The image was captioned, “No More Mr. Nice Guy!”
Kimmel roasted this post on Wednesday night, but brought fresh insights on Thursday.
“Why am I getting the same threats he’s giving to Iran?” he exclaimed. “Let me make something clear: I am not the Ayatollah.”
“I’m worried this conflict is going to escalate,” he continued. “He might put a blockade on Hollywood Boulevard—nobody will be able to get in. I think it might be time for us to figure this out, because it’s getting crazy.” He then offered a ceasefire deal with the president, suggesting Trump send JD Vance and Jared Kushner to lead the negotiations.
“This could be good for both of us. I get to keep my job, you get to end your eleventh war. What do you say? We can help each other.”
