Megyn Kelly Rips Into Jimmy Kimmel Over Comments He Made to Michelle Obama
What To Know
- Megyn Kelly slammed Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about why he chooses to speak about politics on his late-night show.
- She said he should stick to comedy and not dive into political issues on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
- Kimmel recently explained his decision to get political during an interview on Michelle Obama’s podcast.
Megyn Kelly has never hid her disdain for Jimmy Kimmel, and she had some more words for him on a recent episode of The Megyn Kelly Show. The journalist discussed Kimmel’s appearance on Michelle Obama‘s podcast, where he spoke about why he chooses to make political statements on his late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!
In various clips played from the podcast, Kimmel defended his choice, telling Obama, “It just seems obvious and unavoidable. I just can’t imagine on those nights talking about anything other than what we’re talking about. I think it would be embarrassing if we didn’t talk about this stuff. It would be shameful.”
He also said he “bristles” at comments from those telling him how to do his job. “My job is whatever I decide my job is or whatever my employer allows me to do,” Kimmel pointed out. “Comedians have been doing this for a long time. It just shows a great deal of ignorance when it comes to comedy to say, ‘Well, Johnny Carson didn’t do this.’ Well, first of all, we’re living in a different time, and secondly, how do you know Johnny Carson wouldn’t do it? I bet Johnny Carson would talk about it. I bet Johnny Carson would be absolutely mortified by what’s going on.”
Kelly set out to prove Kimmel wrong by playing a clip of Carson from a 1979 interview, where he said, “Tell me the last time Jack Benny, Red Skelton, any comedian, used his show to do serious issues. That’s not what I’m there for. Can’t they see that? Or do they think that just because you have The Tonight Show that you must deal in serious issues? That’s a real danger. Once you start that, you start to get that self important feeling that what you say has great importance. Strangely enough, you can use that show as a forum. You can sway people. And I don’t think you should as an entertainer.”
Kelly used that statement from nearly 50 years ago to insist that Kimmel was wrong about his take on Carson. “That’s the difference between humility and hubris,” she said. “One man is humble and understands his role and how valuable it is. It doesn’t make you lower not to be speaking out on these dicey issues. It actually makes you elevated in the eye of the public. You do such a service for them. You make them laugh in these difficult times.”
She continued, “The more difficult, the more needed laughter is. But Jimmy Kimmel needs to feel self important and therefore doesn’t care about that lofty goal anymore and smears Johnny Carson by suggesting ‘Trump is so uniquely bad, even Johnny Carson would break that rule.’ Listening to Johnny Carson, do you think he would break that rule?”
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