Donald Trump, often the butt of late night host Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes, weighed in Thursday on Kimmel’s potential retirement by calling him a “loser” and saying ABC would be better off with him gone.
Having hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! since 2003, Kimmel told the Los Angeles Times in a story published Tuesday that his time on the show might be coming to an end sooner rather than later.
“I think this is my final contract,” the 56-year-old said. “I hate to even say it, because everyone's laughing at me now—each time I think that, and then it turns out to not be the case.”
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Kimmel has “a little more than two years left” on his contract, he explained, adding that “that seems like enough.”
In his monologues, Kimmel regularly takes aim at Trump and his adult children. Last November, the two sparred over Kimmel describing the multi-million dollar losses of Truth Social, Trump’s social media site. It was on that same site where Trump reacted to Kimmel’s possible departure from ABC.
“They could get a far more talented person, who would also get better Ratings, for 5% of what they are paying this Loser!” he wrote.
Trump posted a similar message last January about “untalented fools” hosting late-night shows, along with another jab at falling ratings.
Kimmel fired back over the “shoutout” Thursday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, reiterating the comments he made to the Los Angeles Times.
“This apparently caught the attention of America’s most famous tangerine,” Kimmel joked, relaying Trump's message.
“And I got to say that is a hell of a way to find out you’re not going be somebody’s running mate. He has no idea how delighted I am by something like this. I’m going to try to enjoy it, because he probably won’t be able to do this when they take away his phone in prison, so I’m going really like, soak it in.”
Kimmel, the longest-running late-night host in the U.S., will be at the helm for the Academy Awards in March—his fourth time doing so.
