Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel joked that he should host the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Dinner after learning that President Donald Trump will attend.
During his opening monologue Tuesday night, Kimmel reported on Trump accepting an invitation to attend the dinner for the first time in his presidency after opting out of the event entirely during his first term. This will also be the first time Trump has attended the dinner since 2011, when he appeared as a celebrity.
Kimmel pointed out that this year’s dinner will break with tradition by hiring Oz Pearlman, a famed mentalist, to emcee, instead of a comedian.
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“The dinner is traditionally hosted by a comedian,” Kimmel said. “Al Franken hosted it. Ray Romano, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart, Conan [O’Brien], Wanda Sykes. I googled it this morning — turns out I even hosted it back in 2012. This year, I guess Trump didn’t want to be made fun of by a comedian, so the host is a mentalist. We’ll have a mentalist and a mental case onstage together.”
Though Kimmel said Pearlman was an “amazing performer,” he called the decision not to hire a comedian a “cop-out.” He then jokingly made an appeal directly to Trump to have Kimmel host the event instead of Pearlman.
“Mr. President, please let me host this dinner,” he said. “I’ve never asked you for anything, but can you imagine you, me, the commissioner of the FCC, all at a table together? Think of the ratings!”
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In a comment to Fox News Digital, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said, “Nobody in their right mind wants to watch or listen to Jimmy Kimmel, who is a talentless hack with failing ratings.”
Fox News Digital also reached out to the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Kimmel’s reference to the FCC commissioner likely alludes to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Brendan Carr issuing a threat to Disney over Kimmel after the late-night host made controversial comments regarding Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September.
The controversy led to Disney briefly suspending Kimmel’s show for about one week, though the FCC was not involved in the decision.
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Last year, the WHCA broke with tradition after canceling its comedian performer, Amber Ruffin, in an effort to move away from “the politics of division.”
