Jimmy Kimmel is open to having President Trump appear as a guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
The late-night host made the surprising revelation while at Bloomberg Screentime, a panel that brought together pop culture moguls, celebrities and entrepreneurs, at NYA Studios Wednesday.
“I’d love to have Trump on the show, for sure,” Kimmel told Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw. “Yeah…I’ll ask him.”
White House rep Abigail Jackson tells Page Six in response, “Reacting to anything Jimmy Kimmel says would require me to watch his show and I have much more entertaining things to do, like watch paint dry.”
An appearance on Kimmel’s show would not be Trump’s first, as he was once a guest in May 2016.
However, the two have been at odds for years, and the commander in chief recently relished after the comedian’s talk show was temporarily pulled off the air at ABC over a joke about Charlie Kirk’s death.
Kimmel quipped on a Sept. 11 episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that the man who killed the Conservative activist was likely part of the “MAGA gang,” referencing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” supporters.
“Great News for America: The ratings-challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED,” the president, 79, wrote via Truth Social in September, following Kimmel’s suspension.
“Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible.”
After public outcries from viewers and freedom of speech advocates, however, Kimmel returned to TV.
The decision caused Trump to threaten to sue ABC over the claim that the host was just “another arm” of the Democratic National Committee and “a major Illegal Campaign Contribution.”
Kimmel — who said at Wednesday’s panel that his joke about Kirk was “intentionally and…maliciously mischaracterized” — defended why he addresses politics on his late-night show in the first place.
“I’ve always been interested in politics, but I was never a particularly political person …. maybe you didn’t have to be back then,” he explained.
“I think this is a very different situation that we’re in now. And also my job as I see it is to talk about the news of the day, and these are the big stories of the day pretty much every day.”
