Recommendations of the Editorial team
Jimmy Kimmel directly addressed Donald Trump in his monologue on Thursday (November 20) after he (again) called on ABC to fire the late-night host in a post on Truth Social.
“My wife comes out of the bathroom. She has her cell phone. She says, ‘Trump tweeted that you should be fired,'” Kimmel said. “I said, ‘Oh.’ Then I went downstairs and made bagels for the kids.”
The moderator read the president’s social media post to the audience and then asked, “Am I the slacker?” He continued, “He posted this at 12:49 a.m. – 11 minutes after the show ended on the East Coast. That’s nice. He’s seeing us live. Hello, Mr. President! Thank you for watching us on TV and not on YouTube. We appreciate it. Ironically, it’s viewers like you who keep us on the air.”
“I honestly have lost track of how many times the president has called for me to be removed from the program,” he continued. “What a sensitive person, this man. Every five weeks he goes crazy and wants me fired.”
“You’ve tried this before. You tried to get me fired in September, but it didn’t work, Mr. President,” Kimmel said before making a suggestion to Trump. “How about this: I’ll go if you go, okay? We’ll be a team. Let’s ride off into the sunset together like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
He ended his message to the president by saying, “Until then, if I may borrow a phrase from you: Quiet, piggy.”
What the insult is all about
Trump’s renewed call for Kimmel to be removed from the program came after the host detailed the president’s ongoing meltdown over the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump signed a law on Wednesday (Nov. 19) directing the Justice Department to release documents about the late convicted sex offender, despite attempts to block the law. The president appeared increasingly unsettled as the topic was raised, telling a reporter on Air Force One last week, “Quiet, piggy,” when she asked him about his ties to Epstein.
“The Justice Department has 30 days to release the files, which will make for a very merry Christmas,” Kimmel quipped Thursday night. “I have a prediction for the next 30 days: I think we’re going to see Trump do some of the craziest things he’s ever done.”