You might assume that Donald Trump would be too busy preparing for his criminal trial to keep disparaging Jimmy Kimmel’s Oscar-hosting gig, but you’d be sorely mistaken. The former president took to Truth Social this week to blast Kimmel more than a month after the Oscars, managing to confuse the Oscar host with Oscar presenter Al Pacino in the process.
“Stupid Jimmy Kimmel, who still hasn’t recovered from his horrendous performance and big ratings drop as Host of The Academy Awards, especially when he showed he suffered from TDS, commonly known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, to the entire World by reading on air my TRUTH about how bad a job he was doing that night, right before he stumbled through announcing the biggest award of all, ‘Picture of the Year,’” Trump wrote, erroneously conflating Kimmel’s hosting performance with Pacino’s unconventional best-picture announcement.
Naturally, late-night television had a field day with Trump’s faulty memory. On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the Oscar host ripped into Trump for still caring about his Academy Awards gig in the first place. “This was five weeks ago,” said Kimmel. “My parents don’t even care anymore!”
Kimmel went on to criticize how Trump chose to fritter away his break from the trial. “Today he had a day off, and how did he spend that? Brunch with Melania? No. Maybe a catch with Barron in the yard? No, no. Ranta Claus got up bright and early to post 165 venomous words about yours truly!” said Kimmel.
The late-night host also took pains to clarify that he did not present the award for best picture. “I am not Al Pacino. Maybe you dreamed this during one of your courtroom siestas,” said Kimmel, riffing on Trump’s penchant for snoozing during his own trial. “He’s Al Pacino, I’m me. You’d think he would know that, because I’m pretty sure ‘Say hello to my little friend’ is what he said to Stormy Daniels that got him in all this trouble.”
Kimmel wasn’t the only late-night personality who roasted Trump. Stephen Colbert also devoted a portion of his monologue on The Late Show to flaming the former president for still caring about the Oscars. “That’s right: In the middle of a presidential campaign and countless federal indictments, he’s obsessed with the Academy Awards from five weeks ago,” Colbert quipped. “I look forward to his new campaign slogan—‘Trump 2024: They Gave It to Green Book?’”
Colbert also used his platform to defend his friend and Strike Force Five podcast cohost. “Also, you keep my friend Jimmy Kimmel’s name out of your weird little wet mouth, okay?” said Colbert. “Jimmy Kimmel is my podcast brother from Strike Force Five, and I have vowed—I have vowed to defend him until my death. Or until the next ad for Mint Mobile.”