As most late night television hosts tackle the daily shenanigans going on with the Trump administration, Jimmy Kimmel has found himself at the forefront of the group criticizing every idiotic move.
Following the health scare involving his newborn son Billy in May, Kimmel became an outspoken supporter for health care for all, especially those individuals with pre-existing conditions. When the shooting in his hometown of Las Vegas occurred, Kimmel took Republicans to task for allowing the NRA to essentially run the United States.
With Jimmy Kimmel Live!set to take its show to Brooklyn this week, the New York Timessat down with the 49-year-old comedian to discuss his newfound political voice during the Trump administration. "It does make you think a little bit more about what you say and maybe you choose your words a bit more carefully," he said. "I don’t ever want to get in a situation where I feel compelled to speak about every tragedy, every natural disaster, every murder or car accident or whatever horrible things are going on in the world. If I do that, no one will be interested. You can overdo it."
Kimmel admits that he has not received any pressure from ABC to tone down his politically charged monologues, jokingly adding that the network has been more concerned about his beard.
In an interview with Today's Willie Geist, The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon admitted that political commentary is just not what he does. "I think it would be weird for me to start doing it now. I don't really care about politics. I gotta be honest," Fallon says.
Kimmel believes that Fallon's decision to steer clear of discussing politics is his own choice. "Jimmy Fallon, he’s just being true to himself," he said. "There are people who don’t care about politics. I certainly know people who care much more about football. Although it’s hard to tell what is football and what is politics nowadays."
In 2016 and this year in particular, SNL has been using its platform to address Trump through their cold opens and sketches. On Saturday, Alec Baldwin returned as Trump to speak at a trucker rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, while Kate McKinnon nailed her impression of the nightmare that is Kellyanne Conway in a It spoof.
