Kimmel: Oscars joke ‘really must’ve gotten to’ Trump

Late night host Jimmy Kimmel responded Wednesday to former President Trump’s pointed social media post slamming Kimmel earlier in the day.

“It appears that I once again ruffled the feathers of our Kentucky-fried former president, who is, apparently — with all that’s going on — still smarting from my joke about him at the Oscars,” Kimmel said at the start of his monologue during Wednesday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” broadcast.

“You know, Donald Trump is in the first week of a criminal trial, the first president to be on trial for a criminal offense, for paying hush money to a pornographic film star,” Kimmel continued.

Despite being in court “all day” Monday and Tuesday, Trump took his day off Wednesday to write the post slamming the late night host, Kimmel told viewers.

“Rant-a Clause got up bright and early to post 165 venomous words about yours truly,” Kimmel said.

Kimmel’s remarks come in response to the Wednesday morning Truth Social post from the former president, in which Trump railed against Kimmel. The former president called the late night host “stupid” and “fool,” and he slammed his performance as Oscars host. Trump famously criticized Kimmel during the awards ceremony last month, and Kimmel then read Trump’s post aloud on live television, as a real-time review of his performance.

“Stupid Jimmy Kimmel, who still hasn’t recovered from his horrendous performance and big ratings drop as Host of The Academy Awards, especially when he showed he suffered from TDS, commonly known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, to the entire World by reading on air my TRUTH about how bad a job he was doing that night,” Trump wrote Wednesday, later adding, “Supposedly his wife, and even management, begged him not to do it, ‘DON’T READ HIS TRUTH, JIMMY, PLEASE DON’T DO THIS,’ they said.”

“He was made to look like a FOOL, which he is, and at the same time go down in Television History as the WORST HOST EVER OF THE ONCE VAUNTED ACADEMY AWARDS!” Trump continued.

Kimmel later added in the Wednesday broadcast that despite being a former president currently on trial with 34 criminal charges against him in the hush money case, Trump is “still mad about the Oscars.”

“This was five weeks ago. My parents don’t even care anymore. The only person still talking about this joke is him. It really must have gotten to him,” Kimmel continued.

Kimmel went through Trump’s entire Wednesday post to push back on separate claims Trump made.

“There’s only one person who suffers from ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.’ His name is Donald Trump,” Kimmel said, responding to Trump’s claims that he suffers from “TDS.”

Kimmel also pushed back on Trump’s suggestion that Kimmel’s wife “begged him not to” read Trump’s tweet aloud at the ceremony.

In a nod to Will Smith’s rebuke of Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars, Kimmel said, “And by the way, keep my wife’s name out of your eff-ing mouth.”

Kimmel showed that ratings were up this year for the awards show, despite Trump’s claim otherwise. He also noted he was asked to host the Oscars again next year, pushing back on Trump’s claim that he is the worst host in history.

“I don’t know, that must be why they asked me to host the show again next year, which I wasn’t planning to do, but now I might,” Kimmel said. “You know what? Maybe you can watch on the TV in the rec room at Rikers with all the guys.”