Embattled late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel went on Michelle Obama’s podcast and went on the attack against supporters of President Donald Trump for criticizing Kimmel in response to his relentlessly left-wing, anti-Trump rants on his ABC show.
The rabidly anti-Trump comedian railed at his detractors for accusing him of failing to do his TV hosting job well.
Kimmel told Obama and her co-host brother, Craig Robinson, that he thinks doing political commentary in the age of Trump is “unavoidable” and the he would be “embarrassed” if he avoided the topic.
“It just seems obvious and unavoidable. I just can’t imagine on those nights talking about anything other than what we are talking about, Kimmel said. “I think it would be embarrassing if we didn’t talk about this. It would be shameful. I love telling jokes. I love being funny. I love when the audience laughs. There’s nothing that’s more exciting to me than that.
He also warned MAGA fans to stop telling him what his “job” is supposed to be.
“To say that, well your job is this, it makes me — I bristle at that,” Kimmel explained. “Because, first of all, don’t tell me what my job is. I don’t tell you what your job is. My job is whatever I decide my job is, whatever my employer allows me to do. That’s what my job is.”
He also accused those who say he is too obsessed with attack Trump of being “ignorant” of American comedy history.
“Comedians have been doing this for a long time. You know, from my generation, George Carlin, Richard Pryor. It just shows a great deal of ignorance when it comes to comedy to say, well, Johnny Carson didn’t do this,” he said. “Well, first of all, we’re living in a different time. And secondly, how do you know Johnny Carson wouldn’t do it? I bet Johnny Carson would talk about it. I bet Johnny Carson would be absolutely mortified by what’s going on.”
Kimmel also accused MAGA voters of being bad Christians, and said, “The cardinal rule of MAGA is to never admit when you are wrong. First of all, it’s the opposite of Christianity. I mean, it’s the basis of the whole faith you know, is asking for forgiveness. And that seems to be cast aside.”
This is the same Jimmy Kimmel who has refused to say anything about the alleged sexual crimes of now former Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell who Kimmel supported and who he invited on his show to help Swalwell advertise his now suspended campaign for governor of California.
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