Jimmy Kimmel slams Donald Trump for “hateful” comments about Rob Reiner’s death
Jimmy Kimmel has slammed Donald Trump for his comments in the wake of Rob Reiner and his wife’s deaths, calling him “hateful and vile”.
Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead at their home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, on December 14th, reportedly with injuries consistent with a knife attack. The couple’s son, Nick Reiner, is currently in custody and has been charged with their murders.
However, controversy was sparked when, rather than choosing to pay tribute, Trump decided to attack Reiner in a Truth Social post. The director was a well-known Democrat, and the president claimed that he and his wife had “passed away” from “Trump Derangement Syndrome”.
Trump received widespread condemnation, even from within his own party, following the remarks, leading Kimmel to address them in the opening monologue for his show on December 15th.
“This is the kind of weekend that makes you wonder if things will ever feel good again,” he said, referencing the mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia as well as the “murder of one of our greatest directors and patriots, Rob Reiner, and his wife Michele Reiner.”
Kimmel continued: “What we need in a time like this, besides common sense when it comes to guns and mental health care, is compassion and leadership,” adding, “We did not get that from our president because he has none of it to give. Instead, we got a fool rambling about nonsense.”
The host said the comments was an example of “this rush to pin the tail on the donkey in pursuit of the Trump-friendly narrative.”
He continued, “Not to mention blaming his death on the fact that he is an outspoken liberal, insulting someone who has just been murdered, who leaves children behind, without having any idea of what actually happened. It’s so hateful and vile.”
Kimmel then showed a clip of Trump from later in the day in which he continued to emphasise to reporters that Reiner was supposedly “deranged” and “very bad for our country”. Kimmel hit back: “That corroded brain is in charge of our lives.”
Signing off his monologue, he said: “I know from my personal interactions with Rob Reiner that he would want us to keep pointing out the loathsome atrocities that continue to ooze out of this sick and irresponsible man’s mouth. And so we’re going to do that, over and over again, until the rest of us wake up.”
Kimmel and Trump have been in each other’s firing line for the past number of months, ever since the talk show host was taken off-air in September over his comments on the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
This sparked outcry across the industry as a victory for Trump and an infringement on free speech, but Kimmel was ultimately reinstated after four days.
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