ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel ripped Vice President JD Vance Tuesday night for suggesting President Trump’s now-infamous photo that appeared to show him as a Jesus-like figure was actually a misunderstood joke. Kimmel likened the remarks to his own suspension last year.
Trump posted and then removed the photo over the weekend, ultimately telling reporters that he thought the image was him as a doctor, healing someone sick.
“Even JD Vance wasn’t able to go along with this doctor storyline he had. He came up with an entirely different explanation,” Kimmel said in his monologue, before playing a clip of Vance on Fox News’ Special Report.
“Well, first of all, Bret, I think the President was posting a joke. And of course, he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people weren’t understanding his humor,” Vance said in the clip.
“He was posting a joke, you understand, and like all the best jokes, it had to be explained and then deleted,” Kimmel quipped. “First he was Jesus, then he was a doctor, and now it was a joke. Why did I get kicked off the air again? I can’t remember.”
Kimmel, of course, was referencing his own suspension at ABC last year, over regrettable comments he made in a monologue after the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk that many took as suggesting the Kirk shooting suspect was a MAGA Republican.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said in the monologue.
Kimmel returned to the show a week or so later and delivered an emotional 18-minute monologue addressing the situation, the reaction and his original comments.
“I’ve been hearing a lot about what I need to say and do tonight. I don’t think it’s going to make much difference — you like me or you don’t. I’m not gonna change anyone’s mind,” Kimmel said. “But I do want to make something clear because it’s important to me as a human that you understand it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. … Nor was my intent to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but I understand that to some it felt ill-timed or unclear or maybe both. For those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset — if the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I’d feel the same way.”
You can see Tuesday night’s monologue below.
