Jimmy Kimmel hit back at the White House on Thursday after a spokesman called him a “no-talent loser” in response to his recent monologue, turning the insult into a mocking segment on his late-night show.
“The White House also issued a not-so-fabulous statement today about me, in response to my monologue,” Kimmel said in the clip. “To be honest, I’m not even sure which one pissed them off.”
The White House Statement
Kimmel read the statement on air, which came from a White House spokesman identified as Davis Dingle.
“Jimmy Kimmel is a no-talent loser who has beclowned himself with tanking ratings and by spewing disgusting lies to his dwindling audience,” the statement read.
Kimmel seized on the unusual word “beclowned.” “And by the way, in case you were wondering what a person who uses the word ‘beclowned’ looks like, this is Davis Dingle,” Kimmel said, before showing a photo of the spokesman. “You can see him clicking on his pen, moments before they buckled him into his booster seat on Air Force One.”
The Broader Feud
The exchange is the latest flashpoint in an ongoing feud between Kimmel and the Trump administration. The president has repeatedly called for ABC to fire Kimmel, particularly after a joke in April where Kimmel said Melania Trump had “a glow like an expectant widow” during a mock White House Correspondents’ Dinner monologue.
That joke became a major controversy after an armed man breached security at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner days later. Both the president and first lady criticized Kimmel, with Melania Trump calling his rhetoric “hateful and violent” and urging ABC to take action.
Kimmel has refused to apologize, saying the joke was obviously about the couple’s age difference and was not an incitement to violence.
The Ratings Angle
The White House statement also mocked Kimmel’s ratings, but the late-night host has previously pushed back on that line of attack. He has argued that if low ratings were grounds for termination, the president should be fired too.
Bottom line
Jimmy Kimmel responded to a White House statement calling him a “no-talent loser” by mocking the spokesman’s appearance and the word “beclowned” during his monologue. The exchange is the latest in a months-long feud that began with Kimmel’s “expectant widow” joke about Melania Trump. The White House has demanded ABC fire Kimmel; he has refused to apologize.
My Opinion
The White House called Jimmy Kimmel a “no-talent loser” and accused him of “spewing disgusting lies to his dwindling audience.” Kimmel responded by showing a photo of the spokesman and joking about his booster seat. That is the level of discourse between the president of the United States and a late-night comedian in 2026.
But beneath the jokes, there is something serious happening. The president has repeatedly called for ABC to fire Kimmel. The first lady has called his rhetoric “hateful and violent.” The White House is using its official platform to attack a comedian’s character and demand his termination. That is not normal. It is not funny. It is an attempt to use the power of the presidency to silence a critic.
Kimmel’s joke about Melania Trump was in poor taste. He has acknowledged that. But poor taste is not a crime. It is not incitement. And it is certainly not grounds for the White House to demand that a private company fire one of its employees.
The First Amendment protects Kimmel’s right to make jokes, even bad ones. It also protects the White House’s right to criticize him. But there is a difference between criticism and coercion. When the president uses his office to pressure a network into firing a comedian, that is coercion. And Kimmel is right to fight back.
