It’s been a long run of back and forth between President Donald Trump and a lot of different figures in late night. He made some bold pronunciations when Stephen Colbert finally signed off the air. He’s taken shots at Seth Meyers over at NBC. He thinks Jimmy Fallon is "whimpering." But he’s seemingly taken a special interest in Jimmy Kimmel, which continued this week when the President made an aside during a rally and called Jimmy Kimmel a "loser."
What Trump Said About Jimmy Kimmel Most Recently
Donald Trump has made comments about Live! in the past, even after the late night host brought him up during the Oscars in 2024. (To be fair, he wasn't the only one annoyed by Kimmel's jabs). It's not that surprising to hear he had a new public take. What is interesting is the context.
Apparently, he was unhappy with Kimmel calling his rallies sparsely attended and mentioning the empty seats. Trump was at a rally in Clarksville, TN when he said the following:
This loser, Jimmy Kimmel. What a loser. I had just left Texas or somewhere. The place is packed. And maybe it was Ohio. The place is packed. He said, ‘Donald Trump had a sparsely attended [rally].’ I said, ‘Sparsely attended?’ They had to walk thousands of people. They couldn’t get into the arena. These guys are crooked people. They’re losers. They’re crooked people.
As part of this, Trump did a bit where he mimicked Kimmel's voice. The late night host caught wind of this, and included it in his monologue Monday night.
How Jimmy Kimmel Responded To The Latest Trump Insult
To note, when Kimmel made the rally comment, he said he didn’t even share with the audience how many empty seats there were. In fact, he was a little surprised this was the moment the President of the United States seems to be latching onto.
Of all the things I said about him last week, of all the many moronic and criminal words and deeds I detailed, that’s what bothers him? Me pointing out the fact that his rallies have empty seats?
In the video (above), this time Kimmel did share a pic from a rally event, which featured chunks of rows with missing occupants. It wasn’t that bad, as there were still plenty of attendees, but it’s not as if Jimmy Kimmel Live! made an inaccurate statement either. Kimmel went on to point out:
There were even empty seats at the rally where he complained about me saying he had empty seats at the rally. He keeps claiming there are empty seats at the back and the top because people love him so much, they make their way down to the front.
Listen, none of this discourse is exactly “new.” Trump’s been calling late night “unfunny" since his first tenure, and there are tweets about it dating all the way back to at least 2017. Kimmel and Trump have had a particularly estranged back and forth ever since the late night host was suspended from the air and the FCC got involved. Seth Meyers and John Oliver even recently joked they like using Kimmel as a shield so Trump ignores their content.
Jimmy Kimmel’s been clear he feels late night is being “poisoned” in this new landscape where politics are intertwined, and there are some rumors Live! may not get renewed when his contract is up in May. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but I’d expect the back-and-forth between the President and the late night host to continue for the time being.
