Overview
- Early Thursday, President Trump posted on Truth Social calling Kimmel a man with “NO TALENT” and “VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS” and urged ABC to “get the bum off the air.”
- On Wednesday’s show, Kimmel mocked Trump over the impending release of Jeffrey Epstein–related records, dubbing it “Hurricane Epstein” and questioning what the president knew.
- Congress overwhelmingly approved the Epstein Files Transparency Act (House 427–1; Senate by unanimous consent), and Trump signed it Wednesday night before the pre-taped episode aired, despite Kimmel joking there was only a 12% chance he would.
- Kimmel’s monologue also criticized a White House black‑tie dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, joking that the guest list resembled an “alumni dinner for the Legion of Doom.”
- The renewed clash follows ABC’s weeklong suspension of Kimmel’s show in September and subsequent reinstatement, after which viewership spiked, even as Trump again derided the program’s ratings and referenced affiliate station groups as “TV Syndicates.”