After repeatedly falling asleep in court this week, Donald Trump has provided more evidence that he isn’t laser-focused on his criminal trial over hush-money payments to a porn star. On Wednesday morning, Trump lashed out at Jimmy Kimmel on Truth Social, posting an incoherent rantabout something that happened at the Oscars nearly six weeks ago:
Trump is clearly talking about Kimmel mocking him during the March 10 Academy Awards ceremony. Just before Best Picture was announced, Kimmel read Trump’s unintentionally hilarious Truth Social tirade reviewing his performance as host. The bit concluded with Kimmel telling Trump, “Thank you for watching. I’m surprised you’re still up. Isn’t it past your jail time?”
Other aspects of Trump’s new Truth Social post are highly confusing. It seems Trump thinks that Kimmel bungled the announcement of the night’s final award :
… Right before he stumbled through announcing the biggest award of all, “Picture of the Year.” It was a CLASSIC CHOKE, one of the biggest ever in show business, and to top it off, he forgot to say the famous and mandatory line, “AND THE WINNER IS.” Instead he stammered around as he opened the envelope.
This is wrong in multiple ways:
- Trump is confusing Kimmel for Al Pacino. The 83-year-old actor fumbled the Best Picture announcement by saying, “And my eyes see Oppenheimer,” when he opened the envelope, rather than the traditional “And the winner is …”
- The moment wasn’t one of the “biggest ever” chokes in Hollywood history; no one cared that much because it was clear who won, and we’re talking about Al Pacino here.
- The award is called the Academy Award for Best Picture. While the name changed several times prior to 1962, it was never “Picture of the Year.”
- As anyone who’s watched the annual ceremony should know, the host doesn’t announce the awards — they introduce celebrity presenters, who then unveil the winners.
More broadly, why is Trump still complaining about this? Forbes said the Truth Social post was “seemingly in response to Kimmel’s remarks” about the trial on Tuesday night’s show. That’s a reasonable guess, but Trump never actually got around to explaining why he was bringing up “Stupid Jimmy Kimmel.” The host did mock Trump in his monologues this week, but they weren’t any more vicious than usual — and every late-night host has been joking about the trial.
Trump is notoriously thin-skinned, so presumably he wasn’t thrilled about Kimmel making all of Hollywood’s biggest stars laugh at his expense on live TV. After the ceremony, Trump tried to spin Kimmel’s bit as a win for him and Truth Social, but his argument wasn’t convincing:
Trump: Jimmy Kimmel’s ratings are terrible. He’s not a talented guy… pic.twitter.com/k9ZP9MFlQf
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 17, 2024
The likeliest explanation for Wednesday’s post is that Trump is still rattled by Kimmel’s Oscars joke and is now obsessed with delivering a good comeback. Don’t be surprised six weeks from now when Trump posts, “Well, Jimmy, the Jerk Store called, and they’re running out of you!”
