Jimmy Kimmel found a familiar target for his latest argument about media outrage: Donald Trump himself. On Tuesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host revived past demands to remove him from television and turned those complaints into a punchline over Trump’s comments about Los Angeles and San Diego.
Jimmy Kimmel uses Trump’s own controversy to make a brutal point
Jimmy Kimmel focused on Trump’s remarks about Iran, calling them “one of the craziest, most indefensible statements” he had heard from the president. Trump had said Iran could “take out” the two California cities while discussing the conflict, prompting backlash over how his words sounded.
Rather than stop at criticism, Kimmel built his segment around what he sees as a double standard. He played older news coverage in which conservative media figures demanded consequences for him after he mocked Melania Trump as an “expectant widow” in April. The host then used that history to set up his response.
Kimmel announced, “I’m going to report him to the FCC,” before adding that the difference between his earlier joke and Trump’s latest remarks showed a glaring hypocrisy. He argued that critics who once wanted his program punished should now apply the same standard to the president. “The hypocrisy is so glaring, you can’t even turn your head toward it. You will get blind,” Kimmel said.
The late-night host did not hold back elsewhere in the monologue. He mocked Trump with jokes about diapers, described him as needing medical treatment and said the president appeared to be discussing the destruction of American cities while supporters cheered.
Trump’s team later pushed back on the interpretation. A Rapid Response 47 post on X (formerly Twitter) said Kimmel’s reading was wrong and argued that Trump meant the United States was fighting to prevent Iran from gaining the ability to attack Los Angeles and San Diego with a nuclear weapon (via The Wrap).
