Donald Trump just can’t quit his late-night nemesis.
The former president reignited his long-running feud with Jimmy Kimmel on Saturday—this time from inside the Oval Office, just one day before hosting the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, marking the first time a sitting president has ever taken on hosting duties.
Before the prestigious gala, Trump, 79, couldn’t resist taking a jab at the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host while previewing the event.
“We’ve never had a president host the awards before,” Trump began, before quickly pivoting to one of his favorite targets. “I’m sure they’ll say I was horrible, right? That’s what they do. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible. If I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in talent, maybe I shouldn’t be president.”
Trump’s snide comments revive a bitter feud that’s been brewing for years. Kimmel, who once saluted David Letterman at the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors, has repeatedly clashed with Trump both on-air and online—most recently after his show was briefly suspended in September following remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death.
Trump has gleefully mocked Kimmel in the past, calling him a “man with NO TALENT and VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS” on Truth Social, and even demanding, “Get the bum off the air!”
As Trump steps into the spotlight as host of one of Washington’s most prestigious cultural events, the drama between the commander-in-chief and the late-night comic is once again taking center stage—proving that in Trump’s America, the show never really ends.
