SHOTS FIRED
Jimmy Kimmel delivers a searing personal smackdown to Fox anchor over U.S. health-care criticism.
The show: Jimmy Kimmel Live, Sept. 20 (ABC/Comedy) The moment: The personal smackdown In his Tuesday monologue, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel blasted a U.S. Republican senator from Louisiana, Bill Cassidy, for coming on his show and lying to his face that the health-care bill he co-authored will cover pre-existing conditions and will not cost Americans more than Obamacare. On Wednesday, Kimmel showed a clip of the reaction that sparked from Fox & Friends anchor Brian Kilmeade.
“Hollywood elites like Kimmel continue to push their politics on the rest of the country,” Kilmeade says.
“The reason I found this comment particularly annoying — Kilmeade is a guy who, whenever I see him, kisses my ass like a little boy meeting Batman,” Kimmel shoots back. “He’s such a fan . . . He asked me to write a blurb for his book, which I did . . . Brian, you phoney little creep. Oh, I’ll pound you when I see you.”
The audience applauds. “That’s my blurb for your next book,” Kimmel adds. “‘Brian Kilmeade is a phony little creep.’ ”
It’s not news that late-night hosts are more openly political now than Johnny Carson and Jay Leno, who tried to appear neutral.
The opportunity to educate through comedy that Jon Stewart seized on cable has now spread to network TV. Kimmel hopped on board only recently, after his infant son’s staggeringly expensive openheart surgery woke him.
But Kimmel’s calling-out by name of a fellow TV personality is new. Gone are the days when hosts feigned affability, to not alienate their guests or audience. The U.S. is in a civil war of words, and battle lines are drawn. Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs weeknights on ABC.