Jimmy Kimmel Escalates Feud With Elon Musk & Blasts Trump’s Education Bombshell

Jimmy Kimmel isn’t backing down from his jokes about Elon Musk and the ongoing Tesla stock drop, despite the tech billionaire calling him out on X.

“Tesla is not having a good week,” the late-night host said on Thursday’s (March 20) episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! “Today, they issued a recall of nearly all 46,000 of their Cybertrucks. That’s the eighth Cybertruck recall since they came out in November of 2023. It’s 15 months — 8 recalls.”

He continued, “I mentioned last night multiple Teslas were burned at a Tesla facility in Las Vegas. Authorities are now investigating which Teslas were set on fire — and which set themselves on fire.”

Kimmel’s attacks on Tesla came after Musk referred to the comedian as “such an unfunny jerk” on X. Musk’s comment was made after Wednesday’s (March 19) episode, where Kimmel said, “People have been vandalizing Tesla vehicles, new Tesla vehicles. Please, don’t vandalize, don’t ever vandalize Tesla vehicles,” before pausing and raising an eyebrow.

He’s such an unfunny jerk

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2025

Despite Musk’s insult, Kimmel didn’t shy away from mocking Musk on Thursday’s show. “And while no one should be setting anything on fire, ever,  he added.

“But the MAGA gang — which has been very against any kind of violent protest since January 7, was it? 2021? That’s when they started being against it — they are highly upset,” Kimmel quipped, referring to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots.

He then threw to clips from Fox News and News Nation, where anchors and guests praised Musk for working for the government “for free,” arguing that Americans “should be loving him” and “going after” those who “touch a Tesla.”

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Kimmel retorted, “Right, right. But if you try to taser a cop on the steps of the Capitol, ‘We’ve got your back.’”

Elsewhere in his monologue, Kimmel touched on President Donald Trump‘s order to close the Department of Education, telling his audience, “They say ignorance is bliss, and today, Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education. I know it sounds like a joke, but it’s not.”

“Trump famously said he loves the poorly educated, and now he will have so many more people to love,” he added. “Trump signed the order during an event at the White House – they invited a group of children to attend. They’re like, ‘Hey kids, who hates school?’ And they’re like, ‘Well we do!’ And they said, ‘Well, good news, it’s over!”

You can watch Kimmel’s full opening monologue in the video above and let us know your thoughts below.