Jimmy Kimmel wants to know how Mike Tyson became such a big part of Donald Trump’s MAGA universe.
The late-night host, 58, asked the legendary boxer, 59, about his frequent trips to Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s Florida resort.
“Do you ever go to Mar-a-Lago when you’re in Florida?” Kimmel began.
“All the time, all the time,” Tyson responded.
“Why are you going there? What goes on there? What could possibly be fun about it? I was there once, and I’ve never seen older people in my life,” Kimmel then asked. As Tyson asked when Kimmel went, the Trump adversary replied, “Believe me, I’m not allowed there anymore.”
Tyson insisted to the late-night host, “Mar-a-Lago is one of the best places in the world to be and hang out.”
Kimmel then tried to dig a little deeper into the heavyweight champion’s politics. “So now you’re kind of part of the Trump administration, right?” he asked.
“You believe that? Hey, I’ve got too many felonies—that can’t be,” replied Tyson.
“I have a feeling he’s got more than you do,” the host replied, laughing in reference to Trump.
Tyson said, “I never thought about it that way.”
Kimmel was referencing Tyson being recruited by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 72, to feature in a Super Bowl ad about the dangers of processed food. In the ad, produced by disgraced MAGA filmmaker Brett Ratner, Tyson discusses his family’s history of obesity and his own unhealthy eating habits.
“We’re the most powerful country in the world, and we have the most obese, fudgy people. Something has to be done about processed food in this country,” Tyson says in the 30-second clip. “Something has to be done about processed food in this country.”
Kimmel asked, “You’ve known Trump since the ’80s, when you used to have fights at his casinos. But now you’re working with Robert Kennedy Jr. on one of the few not-crazy projects he has, which is encouraging people to eat healthy.”
“Hey, listen,” responded Tyson. “I lost my sister at 25 from obesity. That’s a trigger for me. When I see somebody that may be obese, it’s just a bad experience.”
Despite their obvious political differences, Kimmel and Tyson’s conversation remained lighthearted. The boxer even gifted Kimmel a championship belt.
Tyson didn’t mention Trump directly in the ensuing conversation, but he did reveal that John F. Kennedy Jr. visited him while he was in prison in 1998.
The boxer’s friendship and history with Trump are well known. As a young boxer, Tyson won several matches at Atlantic City fights sponsored by the billionaire tycoon. After Tyson was convicted of rape in 1992, Trump came to his defense, suggesting that the boxer should pay a monetary fee instead of serving jail time for his crime. Tyson later thanked the now-president for standing by him.
In 2016, Tyson endorsed Trump for president, telling the Daily Caller that he would be voting for him and encouraging others to do the same.
“We’re really good friends. We go back to ’86, ’87. Most of my successful and best fights were at Trump’s hotels,” the boxer said at the time.
He went even further, describing their affinity for one another: “We’re the same guy. A thrust for power, a drive for power. Whatever field we’re in, we need power in that field. That’s just who we are.”
