Jimmy Kimmel revealed he has obtained Italian citizenship as he lamented Donald Trump’s second term in office.
The talk show host, 57, has been a longtime critic of the president. Kimmel was appearing on his ex-girlfriend Sarah Silverman’s podcast when she observed that many Americans who don’t approve of Trump have sought citizenship elsewhere.
“I do have… I did get Italian citizenship,” responded Kimmel. “I do have that.”
He continued: “What’s going on is… as bad as you thought it was gonna be, it’s so much worse. It’s just unbelievable. I feel like it’s probably even worse than [Trump] would like it to be.”
Kimmel added that he has no ill will towards former Trump supporters who are reconsidering their position, saying: “There are a lot of people… now you see these clips of Joe Rogan saying: ‘Why’s he doing this? He shouldn’t be deporting people.’ People go: ‘F*** you, you supported him.’ I don’t buy into that. I don’t believe ‘F*** you, you supported him.’
“I think the door needs to stay open,” Kimmel said. “If you want to change your mind, that’s so hard to do. If you want to admit you were wrong, that’s so hard and so rare to do. You are welcome.”
In April, popular podcaster Rogan spoke out against Trump’s deportation policies. He had previously endorsed the president hours prior to the last election.
“You’ve gotta get scared that people who are not criminals are getting, like, lassoed up and deported and sent to El Salvador prisons,” Rogan said.
Rogan called that possibility “horrific” and admitted sending non-criminals out of the country as part of the Trump administration’s attempts to crack down on the Tren de Aragua gang was “bad for the cause.”
Last week, Trump doubled down on his claim that Kimmel and fellow late night host Jimmy Fallon will be next in line to lose their jobs as networks begin to shy away from criticizing his administration.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
With Paramount moving earlier this summer to cancel CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Trump was asked at a recent press conference about “shock jock” Howard Stern’s Sirius XM radio show reportedly being brought to an end and whether that meant anti-Trump comedy was facing extinction.“Well, it hasn’t worked,” the president said. “And it hasn’t worked, really, for a long time, and I would say pretty much from the beginning. Colbert has no talent.
“I mean, I could take anybody here. I could go outside in the beautiful streets and pick a couple of people that do just as well or better. They’d get higher ratings than he did. He’s got no talent.
“Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent. They’re next. They’re going to be going. I hear they’re going to be going. I don’t know, but I would imagine because they’d get – you know, Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon.”
