Jimmy Kimmel has revealed a handpicked lineup of MAGA-hating A-listers to antagonize Trump during his show’s week in New York.
This year marks the eighth time the Brooklyn, New York-born host has taken Jimmy Kimmel Live! back home. He’ll tape at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House Sept. 28 through Oct. 2.
The star-studded lineup represents an army of Trump’s outspoken Hollywood critics. It includes Mahershala Ali, Billy Crystal, Paul McCartney, Seth Meyers, Tom Morello, John Oliver, Bernie Sanders, Bruce Springsteen and Howard Stern.
Springsteen and Morello have openly condemned the administration. Billy Crystal slammed the president at the Hollywood Bowl. Ali has spoken against Trump’s immigration policies. And Stern enraged Trump by endorsing Hillary Clinton over his frequent radio guest in 2016.
Kimmel’s fellow late-night hosts, Oliver and Meyers, regularly roast the White House in front of a national audience. Sen. Sanders has made his stance on Trump clear, calling him “the worst president in the history of this country, a president who is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe and a religious bigot.”
Kimmel has also booked SNL’s Pete Davidson, comedian Robby Hoffman, and New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist with whom Trump shares a tender bromance.
Kimmel is a prominent MAGA opponent himself and has accused the Federal Communications Commission of censoring his show’s content. Last September, ABC suspended Kimmel’s show after the host joked about MAGA’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Trump has also repeatedly called for Kimmel’s removal from television entirely.
On Sept. 10, Kimmel said the FCC “threatened” him after he interviewed Democrat hopeful James Talarico, who is running for Senate in Texas. ABC pulled the interview from the air, prompting Kimmel to release it on YouTube instead.
When ABC pulled the segment, Kimmel said that the FCC “has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations, based on simple, traditional, editorial decisions, guest bookings it would seem they don’t like.”
“They’re very nervous about the midterms, and rightly so,” he continued. “They’re in danger of losing a Senate seat in Texas, of all places.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr attempted to push back against Kimmel’s statement.
“Jimmy Kimmel is play-acting—as he often does—to create a false narrative about this administration’s policies,” spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast in a statement. “Chairman Carr has not threatened him regarding interviewing James Talarico, or any other candidate. Any media outlet blindly amplifying Kimmel’s egocentric delusion should insist on proof. Of which they will find none.”
Five days after it aired, the Talarico segment became Jimmy Kimmel Live’s most-watched interview on YouTube in two years.
