Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards

Jimmy Kimmel took a shot at President Trump’s in-person campaign rallies while hosting the Emmy Awards amid the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday.

The “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host took to the stage at an empty theater for the unconventional 72nd annual awards ceremony.

“Welcome to the Pand-Emmys,” Kimmel told the audience, quipping, “You can’t have a virus without a host.” 

“It might seem frivolous and unnecessary to do this during a global pandemic, but you know what else seems frivolous and unnecessary? Doing it every other year,” Kimmel, 52, said.

“Right now we need fun,” the late night personality continued. “My God, we need fun. This has been a year of division, injustice, disease, Zoom school and death.”

“The world may be terrible, but TV has never been better,” Kimmel added.

We put the “mono” in monologue at the 2020 #Emmys… @TelevisionAcad @ABCNetwork @BatemanJason pic.twitter.com/Wtajk450SK

— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) September 21, 2020

He then showed that rather than a star-studded, packed venue, he was speaking to an empty theater, with life-size cardboard cutouts of celebrities, including Meryl Streep, Hugh Jackman and Sandra Oh, filling the seats.

“Of course I’m here all alone. Of course we don’t have an audience,” Kimmel said. “This isn’t a MAGA rally — it’s the Emmys.”

Trump’s campaign has faced criticism for holding large in-person gatherings as the nation continues to grapple with a rising number of COVID-19 cases. The president’s reelection campaign held an indoor rally in Nevada last week. It had been holding outdoor events since a controversial indoor rally in Tulsa, Okla., in June.

“If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment to hear from the President of the United States,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told reporters last week.