At 12:49 a.m. ET on Thursday, the President of the United States’ social media account posted a call for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel.
Donald Trump’s exact words on the Truth Social post were “Get the bum off the air!!!”
Kimmel, of course, had a lot of fun with Trump’s post on Thursday’s edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, thanking him for “watching us on TV instead of on YouTube.” The President’s (latest) call to take Kimmel off the air, though, capped a days-long run of contentious interactions with or diatribes against media figures, including two reporters and Kimmel’s fellow late-night host Seth Meyers.
Meyers, the host of NBC’s Late Night, was the president’s first target. In a Truth Social post on Nov. 15, Trump (or whoever writes his posts) accused Meyers of having “an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS)” and said the host “was viewed last night in an uncontrollable rage, likely due to the fact that his ‘show’ is a Ratings DISASTER. Aside from everything else, Meyers has no talent, and NBC should fire him, IMMEDIATELY!”
On his Monday show, Meyers referred to the post as a “thoughtful piece of fan mail,” adding “I take no issue with the president voicing his displeasure with my show. That is his right — and on a lot of nights, he’s got a point.” But Meyers did take issue with the “uncontrollable rage” part, joking that “it sounds like something a dowager countess says in a Victorian murder mystery.” He also noted that the previous Friday’s show, a repeat from Nov. 3, featured a “Closer Look” segment where the host expressed (faux) outrage over a previous Trump assertion on Truth Social that Meyers was obsessed with “electric catapults on aircraft carriers” (before a montage of Trump saying “catapults” dozens of times).
Next came video of Trump, during a press gaggle on Air Force One, snapping at Bloomberg White House reporter Catherine Lucey. The incident happened on Nov. 14, but video didn’t surface until early this week. Lucey asked the president a question about why he was reluctant to release the Jeffrey Epstein files if they contain nothing to incriminate him (the question came before he reversed course and acquiesced to their release). Trump pointed at her and said “Quiet! Quiet, piggy.”
On Tuesday, attention turned to the Saudi Arabia delegation’s visit. A black-tie dinner was held for the Saudi delegation, with Paramount owner David Ellison in attendance. Paramount, along with the Brian Roberts-run Comcast (home to NBC’s Meyers), both put in bids for Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday. Both would have to navigate the gauntlet of Trump administration regulatory oversight — and/or a torrent of Truth Social posts — in order to clear a deal expected to be in the tens of billions.
During a White House meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia that day, Trump again bristled at a question from a reporter, this time ABC News White House correspondent Mary Bruce.
She asked a question about the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence agencies determined the Saudi leader had orchestrated, and also about the Trump family’s business ties in Saudi Arabia.
“He knew nothing about it. You don’t have to embarrass our guest with a question like that,” Trump responded. After Bruce then asked about the Epstein files, he took a similar tone as he did with Lucey.
“It’s not the question that I mind, it’s your attitude,” the President said. “I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions.”
Trump continued, “I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong. And we have a great [FCC] commissioner, the chairman, who should look at that. … No more questions from you.”
That exchange may have still been on the President’s mind when he posted about Kimmel early Thursday. Kimmel noted the time stamp on the post, “which is 11 minutes after the show ends on the East Coast. Which is nice — he watches us live.”
Kimmel said he’s lost count of how many times Trump has called for him to be fired. “You’ve done this before — you tried to get me fired in September,” Kimmel said, referring to his brief suspension. “It didn’t work.
“If you’re watching tonight,” Kimmel continued, “and I presume you are, how about this: I’ll go when you go, OK? Let’s ride off into the sunset together like Butch Cassidy and the Suntan Kid. And until then, if I may borrow a phrase from you, quiet, piggy.”
