In the land of politics, sometimes a little comedy is necessary for us to make sense of what is otherwise an increasingly nonsensical (yet sometimes entertaining) farce.
The world of late-night television is often a great source for this political commentary, with everyone from John Oliver to Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel offering a comedic touch that (somewhat) distracts us from disaster.
Kimmel has long made former President Donald Trump the butt of his jokes during monologues on his namesake show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and even took things a step further by interviewing Stormy Daniels in 2018.
For her part, far-right congresswoman, vocal Trump supporter and foot-in-mouth disease sufferer Marjorie Taylor Greene was brought into the late-night fold in 2022, when Kimmel made a joke about her that she was… less than happy with. Oh, and it also referenced Will Smith.
Did Marjorie Taylor Greene report Jimmy Kimmel to Capitol police?
Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that she had reported Jimmy Kimmel to the Capitol police, following a joke he made during an April episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2022. The joke in question saw the late-night host criticize Greene for sharing a tweet in which she called three Republican senators “pro-pedophile.”
In the post, Greene was referencing Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney, who at the time broke ranks by voting yes to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. Jackson at the time faced scrutiny for her record on sentencing child pornography offenders. Mentioning Greene’s post in his monologue, Kimmel called her a “Klan mom” before asking the audience: “where is Will Smith when you really need him?”.
It’s a callback to the incident in which Smith infamously slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, after a joke the comedian made about Smith’s wife. Responding on Twitter/X, Greene described Kimmel’s joke as a “threat of violence,” before claiming that she had reported the late-night host to police. Eager to get the last word, Kimmel replied to Greene’s post with yet another joke, writing: “Officer? I would like to report a joke.”
Kimmel brought up the situation on a separate episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, seeming somewhat shocked that Greene had actually reported the joke and saying she did so to get “mileage” out of the situation. Referencing another post from Greene — in which she described the joke as a “dog-whistle” to incite violence against her — Kimmel confirmed he did not condone death threats, but said it was rich that a pro-gun politician would be “whining about fantasies of violence.”
While the results of Greene’s police report remain unclear (we’re assuming there were no grounds for further action), the feud made one thing clear: the more you complain about a comedian’s jokes, the more they’ll continue to come for you.