Donald Trump, the president of the United States, is in the middle of a flame war with American late-night TV comedians.
Trump reiterated his claim, without evidence, that ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel is the “NEXT to go in the untalented Late night Sweepstakes,” in a post Tuesday on Truth Social.
The president’s latest comment came after CBS unexpectedly canceled Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” last week. In response to Colbert’s showing being axed, Trump wrote, “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”
Colbert on Monday shot back at Trump’s celebration of his show ending, telling the president in the show’s opening monologue, “Go fuck yourself.” (CBS bleeped out the f-word.)
On Tuesday, Trump ignored Colbert’s jab but took another swipe at Kimmel as well as NBC’s Jimmy Fallon. “The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone,” Trump posted. “These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television. It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”
Kimmel responded to Trump with a post on Instagram with this comment: “I’m hearing you’re next. Or maybe it’s just another wonderful secret.”
Kimmel’s reference to a “wonderful secret” is a reference to a Wall Street Journal story, published July 17, that claimed Trump sent a letter to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 as part of a birthday album of well-wishes. According to the Journal’s article, Trump’s letter “contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair. The letter concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.’”
Trump filed a defamation lawsuit Friday (July 18) against the Journal, parent companies Dow Jones & Co. and News Corp, Rupert Murdoch and two WSJ reporters, demanding at least $20 billion in damages. Trump denied writing the letter to Epstein and called the letter “fake.” The Wall Street Journal quoted Trump as saying, “This is not me. This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story.” In a statement about Trump’s lawsuit, a Dow Jones rep said: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
Commenting on Trump’s antagonism of late-night hosts, comedian and actor Chelsea Handler marveled that Trump “doesn’t have more important things to do.”
“You’ve played a major role in every single person to contemplate leaving this country,” Handler wrote in a reply on Kimmel’s post, addressing Trump. “It’s amazing a president doesn’t have more important things to do like stop wars, make sure the country is safe from foreign enemies, or simply ensure that every family in this country can put food on their table.” Handler ended with the suggestion that Pippi Longstocking, the beloved character from Swedish children’s literature, “would be better suited to the office.”
