Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel fired back at President Donald Trump on Thursday after Trump called for him to be removed from the airwaves.
The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host taunted the president during his show, mocking his approval rating and telling him he’d step down from his ABC late-night program when Trump steps down from office.
“How about this: I’ll go when you go, OK? We’ll be a team. Let’s ride off into the sunset together like Butch Cassidy and the Suntan Kid,” Kimmel quipped.
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Kimmel made the remarks in response to Trump’s Truth Social post from early Thursday morning, in which Trump called the host biased and said he should be pulled from the air.
“Why does ABC Fake News keep Jimmy Kimmel, a man with NO TALENT and VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS, on the air? Why do the TV Syndicates put up with it? Also, totally biased coverage. Get the bum off the air!!!,” Trump wrote.
On his Thursday show, Kimmel read Trump’s post and implied the president was the “bum.”
“I’m the bum? I’m the bum?” Kimmel asked. He also teased Trump for tuning into his show.
“He posted this at 12:49 a.m., eleven minutes after the show ended on the East Coast — which is nice. He watches us live. Hi, Mr. President! How are you? Thanks for watching us on TV instead of on YouTube, and I tell you, it’s viewers like you who keep us on the air, ironically.”
Kimmel then accused Trump of being connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“It’s also sweet that even in the middle of the biggest sex scandal in the history of the American presidency, he takes precious time on the toilet to post about our show.”
“[He] keeps saying we have bad ratings, and you should listen to him because if anyone knows about bad ratings, it’s that guy,” Kimmel continued, playing a montage of outlets reporting on Trump’s current approval ratings.
He then mentioned Trump’s previous calls for Kimmel to get pulled off the air.
“I have honestly lost count of how many times the president has demanded I be pulled off the air,” he said. “I mean, talk about a snowflake — this guy. Every five weeks, he flips out and wants me fired. If you got this many threats from a neighbor, you’d have no problem getting a restraining order.”
The White House did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Addressing Trump directly, he said, “You tried to get me fired in September. It didn’t work.”
The comedian was referring to his show’s suspension in September for several days following the backlash he received for claiming that the suspected killer of conservative activist Charlie, Tyler Robinson, was a Trump supporter.
Some liberal commentators argued that Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr pressured ABC to suspend Kimmel because he mentioned there were potential “avenues” the FCC could pursue to hold ABC accountable during a conservative radio interview at the time.
