On Friday night, Jimmy Kimmel took full advantage of the NBA Finals’ Game 4 telecast, broadcasting a truncated primetime version of his show prior to the game—featuring skits with a number of NBA stars and Captain America himself, Chris Evans—and a longer one after.
And, during his late-night monologue, the comic took aim at Trump for his “manic” response to the Jan. 6 congressional hearings, which an estimated 20 million people watched, and Fox News’ deeply unethical attempts to distract their viewers at home from watching.
“We learned that Trump did not call in the National Guard to stop the attack—he made that up when he said it,” explained Kimmel. “We also learned that when his supporters were breaking in windows, chanting, ‘Hang Mike Pence!,’ Trump was watching on TV and he said, ‘Maybe they have the right idea. Maybe Mike Pence deserved it.’ This is his own vice president.”
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Then, the funnyman turned his attention toward Fox News.
“Fox News is so intent on burying their viewers’ heads in the sand [that] not only didn’t they show the hearing last night, they went commercial-free for two-and-a-half hours so their viewers wouldn’t switch the channel to see what is actually going on,” said Kimmel. “They went into overdrive trying to make it seem like what happened was just a rowdy group of party people sneaking into the movies or something.”
He then cut to footage of Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson spreading falsehoods about the Jan. 6 riot, with Carlson claiming, “It was not an insurrection. It was not even close to an insurrection.”
After playing clips showing the brutal reality of the riot, Kimmel fired back, “It looks like a coup,” before adding, “Five people were killed on that day by those nutty goofball protesters.”
He continued, “And the worst part is, you know Trump is at home so thrilled to be back in primetime he can’t stop pullin’ his nipples. He’s crazy. He loves it.”
Kimmel also addressed Trump’s daughter Ivanka’s testimony that she believed Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr when he stated that the 2020 presidential election wasn’t rigged. Trump responded on his social media platform by saying that Ivanka had “checked out” by then.
“I love his argument that Ivanka, his senior White House advisor, had checked out,” cracked Kimmel. “In the Trump family, that’s called being thrown under the Access Hollywood bus.”
