Trump Criticizes Kimmel Over Hurricane Epstein Remarks
President Trump has taken to social media to criticize comedian Jimmy Kimmel and ABC after Kimmel made a comment during his late-night show about Trump supposedly “preparing for Hurricane Epstein.”
In a post on Truth Social early Thursday, Trump asked, “Why does ABC Fake News continue to air Jimmy Kimmel, who has no talent and very low TV ratings?” He went on to express frustration with the network’s decision to showcase Kimmel and called for the show to be taken off the air due to what he described as biased reporting.
On Wednesday night, Kimmel suggested in his monologue that Trump might have a significant role in the expected release of documents linked to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, humorously referring to it as “Hurricane Epstein,” which he indicated was “a Category 5 storm” ready to make landfall.
The show’s clip, released on YouTube, was titled “President Trump spews nonsense as he prepares for Hurricane Epstein, Elon joins dinner with Saudi crown prince.” During his monologue, Kimmel jokingly remarked that the public was closer to uncovering what Trump knew regarding Epstein.
Earlier in the week, the House passed the Epstein File Transparency Act with a vote of 427-1, and the bill was subsequently sent to Trump’s desk after unanimous approval from the Senate.
Kimmel joked that due to the situation, “President Trump might actually be able to bury the Epstein file back under there,” suggesting an ironic twist to the ongoing discussion. He also indicated that there was only a “12% chance” Trump would sign a government bill requiring the release of Epstein-related documents.
The timing of Kimmel’s show was affected by Trump’s signing of the bill, which happened just hours before the broadcast was set to air, shifting from its usual 7:30 p.m. ET slot to 11:35 p.m.
In a past incident, ABC had suspended Kimmel’s show indefinitely following his controversial comments regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk, where he criticized the “MAGA gang” for their responses to the violence. The suspect in that case, Tyler Robinson, has been charged with multiple crimes related to Kirk’s shooting. Kimmel returned to the air shortly afterward but did not directly apologize before continuing to critique Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
