If you thought Jimmy Kimmel was going to let Donald Trump bring up his name without a response, you’re new to this.
Asked about Kimmel in a podcast interview Monday, the former president called the ABC late-night host “a loser,” before sharing an anecdote he’s told before about when he used to guest on Kimmel’s show.
“He used to greet me on the sidewalk outside of his studio,” Trump said. “I’d come in—this was before politics, of course. But I’d come in and he’d be standing on the sidewalk, ‘Oh sir, may I bring you in?’ He’d bring me in every time.”
Which isn’t so much an insult as it is puzzling. Is he saying that only losers greet their guests?
Regardless, Kimmel used his Tuesday night monologue to dispute Trump’s comments.
Trump keeps insisting Jimmy Kimmel used to greet him out on the studio sidewalk. Jimmy's confused. #Kimmel pic.twitter.com/B1B9fzhYLd
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) October 16, 2024
“He loves telling this made-up story,” Kimmel began. “Never did I ever stand on the sidewalk to greet Donald Trump—or any guest. Never happened… Our guests don’t even come in from the sidewalk. They come in from the alley in the back, where I also don’t stand out there to greet them.”
“The only time I ever walked out on the sidewalk for Donald Trump,” Kimmel added, “was to urinate on his star on the Walk of Fame.”
Trump and Kimmel, of course, have been trading barbs for the better part of the last eight years, never more famously than when Kimmel read an insulting social media post from Trump at this year’s Oscars, before commenting that he was surprised to hear from the 39-times indicted former president, adding “Isn’t it past your jail time?”
Kimmel’s quickly conceived joke brought down the house and led to a series of oddly delayed counter-attacks from Trump, who appeared to confuse Kimmel with this year’s Best Picture presenter, Al Pacino.