President Donald Trump crowed about his victory over his longtime nemesis Jimmy Kimmel–but left one important part out.
Trump shared an edited clip on Truth Social on Thursday from the 2024 Academy Awards, hosted by Kimmel, that cuts off before a joke Kimmel made at the president’s expense.
“Jimmy Kimmel, just before announcement of the Best Picture of the Year, felt that he had to respond to a TRUTH put out by me toward the end of the Show,” Trump wrote. “He made a total FOOL of himself, his wife and agent begging him not to do it, while also proving to be one of the Worst Hosts in the History of the Academy Awards. WATCH THE CLIP!”
In the footage, Kimmel is reading out a Truth Social post from Trump at the time where the president derided his hosting efforts, asking, “Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars. His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be. Get rid of Kimmel and perhaps replace him with another washed up, but cheap, ABC ‘talent,’ George Slopanopoulos,” Trump wrote.
“Also a really bad politically correct show tonight, and for years – Disjointed, boring, and very unfair. Why don’t they just give the Oscars to those that deserve them. Maybe that way their audience and TV ratings will come back from the depths.”
The clip, however, crucially cuts off before Kimmel makes a joke at Trump’s expense, thanking the president for his feedback. “Thank you President Trump, thank you for watching. I’m surprised you’re still—isn’t it past your jail time?” Kimmel joked, earning significant laughter and applause from the audience.
“He’s focused on the important stuff for sure,” Kimmel added.
According to Kimmel, producers for the Oscars tried to convince him not to read out the post, which was a last-minute addition given that it was made during the broadcast.
He told Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos at the time, “It kind of tells you all you need to know about Donald Trump… He wrote this because he was upset I didn’t mention him on the show. No one mentioned him on the show. He wasn’t getting any attention; he couldn’t stand it.”
“I wasn’t planning to mention him at all. We were backstage, the show was almost over and one of the other writers was like, ‘Hey look at this.’ And to quote Al Pacino, just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. I had to read it.”
Trump has long despised Kimmel, previously publicly calling him a “loser”, “an untalented fool”, a “dope” and “one of the dumbest human beings ever.”
Rolling Stone reported in 2018 that Trump’s staff called a top Disney executive to see if anything could be done to rein Kimmel in. The president appeared to get his wish this week, after FCC Chairman threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcasting license if the network did not “take action on Kimmel.”
In response, ABC announced that “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” pulling the plug as audience members were lining up for the taping of Wednesday night’s episode.
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