One of Donald Trump’s chief goons dutifully defended his boss after a cutting Jimmy Kimmel insult seen around the world.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung fired off a furious X post after watching Kimmel poke fun at the first lady during Sunday’s Oscars broadcast.
Kimmel mocked the president and wife Melania’s vanity documentary as he presented the award for Best Documentary Feature, saying, “Oh man, he is going to be mad his wife wasn’t nominated for this.”
Cheung shared a clip of Kimmel’s joke, calling him a “classless hack who is self-projecting his depression and sadness onto others.”
He added, “He lives a pathetic existence where nobody—not even his family—enjoys his miserable company. The only people giving him any attention are Hollywood Elites. BUH-BYE!”
Cheung also took a swipe at Kimmel’s past, calling him “Mr. Blackface.” The talk show host has previously apologized for historic impressions of Oprah Winfrey, Snoop Dogg, and others during comedy sketches.
The first lady’s documentary Melania made a brief appearance at the box office before being shunted to streaming on Amazon, which spent a reported $75 million on the project in a deal struck personally by its boss, Jeff Bezos.
Before presenting the documentary award, Kimmel noted that in some countries telling a story could get you killed.
“As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which.”
He added, “Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”
The CBS network has skewed MAGA since being taken over by right-wing nepo-billionaire David Ellison’s Skydance. Trump ally Ellison quickly installed anti-woke warrior Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief.
Kimmel continued, “Fortunately for all of us, there’s an international community of filmmakers dedicated to telling the truth, oftentimes at great risk to make films that teach us, that call out injustice, that inspire us to take action. And there are also documentaries where you walk around the White House trying on shoes.”
Speaking to Variety at the Oscars, Kimmel admitted he was “exhausted” by having to comment on the president on his show each night.
“We live in a ridiculous country,” Kimmel said. “We always lived in a ridiculous country, but it was always ridiculous in a fun, Mr. T kinda way,” the host said, referencing the larger-than-life wrestler-turned-actor from ’80s action TV show The A Team and the movie Rocky III.
“Now we’ve got a different Mr. T.”
Kimmel and Trump have been enemies for years, even though Trump appeared on his late-night show four times, most recently during his first election campaign in 2016. Trump celebrated loudly last year after Kimmel’s show was temporarily suspended from ABC’s airwaves following comments in a monologue over the MAGA reaction to the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host also shared his opinions on the Melania documentary earlier this month, calling it “dreadfully dull.”
“Between this and Sinners, it’s been a big year for vampire movies,” Kimmel began.
“And while some might say that it is not a great look to be plugging your vanity project while your husband’s bombing another country, Melania has never cared much about optics. She can’t even pronounce optics,” he added.
He went on, “More than anything, this documentary is dreadfully dull. The whole thing is Melania going to fittings, riding in a car, trying on clothes, and interviewing people to work for her.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
