Between his four indictments, 91 felony charges, and current $250 million civil fraud case in New York—all while attempting to battle his way back to the White House—Donald Trump is a very busy man. But apparently not so busy that he isn’t listening to what the late-night TV hosts have to say about him. And a seemingly innocuous comment from Jimmy Kimmel Live! seems to have the former president seeing red.
On Thursday, Kimmel shared that he had woken up to a letter from Trump Media and Technology Group—the company behind Truth Social—demanding the host retract a statement he had made on Tuesday about just how much money the former president’s social media platform has allegedly lost since launching.
Claiming that the show “knowingly or recklessly” misstated information about Truth Social’s financial health, the letter demanded that ABC “completely retract all versions of the segment” and “publish a mutually agreeable apology… acknowledging that the segment was false and has been retracted… Unless these steps are taken immediately, TMTG will take swift legal action to uphold its rights and reputation.”
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“Here’s the thing,” Kimmel explained. “This is a nightly comedy show. We do make every effort to present accurate information. We’re pretty rigorous when it comes to fact-checking.”
Kimmel assured the audience that on the day they aired the segment in question, multiple reliable sources were reporting that Truth Social had lost $73 million. But in going back and rechecking the numbers in their story, and checking TMTG’s filing with the SEC, it turns out that the company “only” lost $31.6 million.
“In other words,” said Kimmel “[and] in fairness, Truth Social isn’t a colossal failure, it’s only an abysmal failure. And I would like to do the right thing and congratulate our balloon animal former president and his company on only losing $31.6 million.”
The irony of the circumstances in which Trump currently finds himself in, while requesting this correction, is certainly not lost on Kimmel. “I have to say: Demanding a retraction for reporting the value of his company incorrectly is pretty darn hilarious considering the fact he is on trial right now for reporting the value of his company incorrectly… Doesn’t this guy have bigger things to worry about?”
