Jimmy Kimmel ridiculed former President Donald Trump's birthday message to his wife Melania, after the former president wished her a "Happy Birthday" while standing outside court on Friday.
The late-night comedian poked fun at Trump for his New York "hush money" trial during Monday night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. The politician is battling 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents, allegedly to hide "hush money" payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Daniels claims to have had a one-night stand with Trump in 2006. The business mogul allegedly had his former lawyer Michael Cohen pay Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about the rumored affair ahead of the 2016 general election, with Trump repaying Cohen via 12 monthly installments labeled as "legal fees."
Trump has refuted both the allegations of an affair with Daniels and the fraud charges.
After dubbing Trump the "Toot Fairy"—a reference to claims that the 77-year-old has been "farting" in court—Kimmel mocked Trump's birthday message to his wife, Melania Trump.
Kimmel cut to footage of the Republican addressing reporters outside of Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday.
"I want to start by wishing my wife Melania a very happy birthday," Trump said. "Be nice to be with her, but I'm at a courthouse for a rigged trial. Terrible."
The real estate tycoon claimed that his defense team is "doing very well," adding "it's a rigged trial and everybody knows it."
"Yesterday was a big day," he continued. "But I do have to begin by wishing Melania 'Happy Birthday.' "
In response to the clip, Kimmel quipped: "How sweet. You could also call her on the phone.
"How oblivious do you have to be to wish your wife a happy birthday outside the courtroom where you're on trial for paying off a porn star?"
Newsweek has reached out to Donald Trump for comment via email.
Kimmel joked that Melania "spent the day at home in Florida, quietly celebrating with her prenup," before suggesting the trial "can't be good" for The Apprentice star's mood.
Trump has been requesting that supporters show up at Manhattan Criminal Court to protest the trial.
Kimmel jumped to a clip of protestors heckling Trump as he left the building on April 13, chanting "New York hates you."
"Leave it to New York to welcome their hometown hero back with open arms," the 56-year-old wise-cracked.
Kimmel is a frequent critic of Trump, previously hitting the former president over his "very dumb crime family" and accusing him of making the Israel-Hamas war "about himself."
The TV star dubbed Trump "Ranta Claus" during his April 18 show, after the politician continued to slam his Oscars' hosting gig on Truth Social.
Kimmel presented the Academy Awards in March, and Trump wrote at the time: "Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel.
"His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be."
Kimmel responded by reading Trump's post out to the audience. The former president responded with a fresh attack, calling Kimmel "Stupid." He suggested that Kimmel "still hasn't recovered from his horrendous performance," before accusing him of forgetting to "say the famous and mandatory line, 'AND THE WINNER IS.'" Trump had apparently forgotten the award for Best Picture, was actually presented by Al Pacino, who said he deliberately left out the line.
The comedian told the Jimmy Kimmel Live audience that he'd "once again ruffled [the] feathers of our Kentucky-fried former president."
"When I got out of bed at 9 a.m., I had 100 text messages," he said, suggesting that Trump was still "smarting" over the Academy Awards' incident.
When contacted by email, Trump's spokesperson Steven Cheung told Newsweek: "Here's Jimmy Kimmel in blackface - disgusting," along with a series of images.
Two of the pictures appeared to be screenshots of sketches from the 1990s, in which Kimmel donned in blackface to impersonate Black celebrities.
Kimmel apologized in 2020 after the clips were unearthed, telling CNN: "I apologize to those who were genuinely hurt or offended by the makeup I wore or the words I spoke." He has described the sketches as "embarrassing."
Update 04/30/24 4:11 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include further information on Donald Trump and Jimmy Kimmel's feud history.
Update 04/30/24 10:30 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include further comment from Donald Trump's spokesperson, Steven Cheung.
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Sophie is a Newsweek Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in Lincoln, UK. Her focus is reporting on film and ... Read more
