Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday night made an unexpected offer to Donald Trump after the president said he would attend the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner for the first time in either of his terms.
Kimmel pointed out that this year’s host isn’t a comedian, as usual, but mentalist Oz Pearlman.
“We’ll have a mentalist and a mental case onstage together,” he cracked.
Kimmel, who hosted the event in 2012, offered an alternative.
“I want to address the president directly on this,” Kimmel said. “Mr. President, please let me host this dinner. I’ve never asked you for anything, but can you imagine you, me, the commissioner of the FCC, all at a table together? Think of the ratings.”
Kimmel also had a sweetener ― something known to entice the president.
“I’ll even throw in an award,” he said. “You like awards, I’ll give you a brand-new award: The Correspondy, the Dundie Correspondy. No one will ever get it besides you. Please, give the people what they want for once.”
The president called repeatedly for Kimmel to be fired, and reportedly tried to have him censored during his first term. Kimmel, in turn, has routinely made the president the butt of his monologue jokes ― and Kimmel’s “past your jail time” crack at the 2024 Oscars became one of the year’s most viral moments.
Last year, Kimmel was briefly pulled off the air after threats by Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, who was appointed to his position by Trump, over comments he made about the suspect in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel played up the drama of a WHCA showdown between himself and the president.
“This is our destiny together. You and me,” he said. “Think about it. Let’s make it the greatest, hottest, most spectacular dinner of any kind ever.”
See more in his Tuesday night monologue:
