Wanda Sykes said that President Donald Trump has an uncanny ability to make her worry about “everything,” but one comment in particular caused her to spiral.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday night, Kimmel asked the Emmy-winning comedian, 62, what her “number one” worry is when it comes to the president.
“Well, everything. Everything,” she said, “He makes you worry about everything.”
However, one that stands out most, she said, is the hantavirus outbreak. “The hantavirus—I heard about it here and there. I was like, “Oh, it’s no big deal.′ Until I heard him talk about it,” she told Kimmel.
“He’s like, ‘Oh, it’s under control. Well, you know, we got a good grip on it, but we think we have it. It’s, uh, well, I don’t know the people. I don’t know anything about it, but it’s under control,’” she said, mocking Trump.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my God, we’re all gonna die by the hantavirus.’ Like I wasn’t concerned about it until he started talking about it.”
Sykes was supposed to be Kimmel’s guest in September 2025, on the day the ABC host was suspended by his network over remarks he made about MAGA’s reaction to the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. The widely criticized suspension ended just six days later, when Kimmel made a triumphant, record-breaking return to the air.
The day of his suspension, Sykes condemned the president for pulling Kimmel off the air, telling her followers over Instagram live, “So let’s see, he didn’t end the Ukraine war or solve Gaza within his first week, but he did end freedom of speech within his first year,” she said at the time.
Kimmel and Sykes celebrated her appearance on the show months later. “I was like, ‘What the hell?’” Sykes recalled, telling Kimmel she ended up spending the evening drinking martinis with a lemon twist. “When life hands you lemons, you make martinis with a lemon twist.”
Kimmel applauded Sykes for her material about Trump in her comedic specials over the years, including a bit about how he doesn’t seem to age. “But age is catching up with him now,” Sykes responded. “You see that he’s falling asleep standing up,” she joked.
The comedian’s new comedy special, Wanda Sykes: Legacy, is now available on Netflix.
