Jimmy Kimmel clarifies presidential stance: “I don’t hate Trump”
Despite remaining a vocal Donald Trump dissenter on his late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel has insisted that he doesn’t “hate” the President of the United States.
The feud between Kimmel and Trump has flickered on for some time; in April, Trump publicly demanded that ABC fire “unfunny” Kimmel “immediately”.
Kimmel, who often uses his monologues on The Late Show to raise awareness of the president’s latest moves, recently retalliated, “We have a president who thinks he’s AI Jesus.”
The 58-year-old also recently poked fun at Trump’s testicles in another monologue, joking that “The Melania documentary had a score of 10 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a website named after her husband’s testicles.”
In a new interview with Vulture, Kimmel discussed his continued tirade against the president by, first, examining his relationship with ex-colleague and fellow show host, Adam Carolla, who regularly praises Trump and has bristled at the Black Lives Matter movement.
Despite these views, the pair are still friends. Kimmel explained, “I love Adam, and he loves me, and I’ve just decided that if I could change his mind, I would try to do that, but I don’t think I can,” he says. “I don’t think fighting with them helps.”
When the interviewer highlighted his alternate stance with the president, Kimmel said, “Well, that’s Trump. That’s different.”
He clarified, “I don’t love him. I don’t hate him, either. I feel sorry for him. He obviously didn’t get hugged a lot.”
When describing his late-night monologues, Kimmel shared that he aims to land in the zone of “assertive but reasonable”.
He added, “Typically, my inclination is to fight back. In that way, Donald Trump and I are not so different.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Kimmel suggested that the President has a hand in “poisoning” late-night television, in light of Stephen Colbert’s recent cancellation.
Kimmel admitted to feeling “defeated” by Colbert’s cancellation, adding, “In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m looking at my own future.”
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