Jimmy Kimmel Taunts Trump With ‘Quiet, Piggy’ After President’s Renewed Call for His Firing
By Sarah Ellison The New York Times November 22, 2025
LOS ANGELES — Jimmy Kimmel, the ABC late-night host whose monologues have become a weekly ritual of resistance against President Trump, turned the tables on his antagonist Thursday night with a defiant 12-minute opener that mocked the president’s latest demand for his ouster and borrowed one of Mr. Trump’s own recent insults to close the segment: “Quiet, piggy.”
The exchange, the latest salvo in a feud that has spanned nearly a decade, began early Thursday when Mr. Trump took to Truth Social at 12:49 a.m. — 11 minutes after Mr. Kimmel’s Wednesday monologue ended on the East Coast — to excoriate the comedian for a segment that lampooned the president’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein and his abrupt reversal on unsealing the financier’s files. “Why does ABC Fake News keep Jimmy Kimmel, a man with NO TALENT and VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS, on the air?” Mr. Trump wrote, urging the network to “Get the bum off the air!!!” It was the second such public plea this year; in September, Mr. Trump’s handpicked Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, amplified pressure from affiliates like Nexstar and Sinclair that led to a brief, nationwide suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” — a hiatus Mr. Kimmel blamed squarely on the White House.
Mr. Kimmel, 58, whose contract with ABC expires in May, opened Thursday’s show with a casual recounting of the morning’s domestic disruption. “I woke up this morning, I’m in bed. My wife comes out of the bathroom — she’s got her phone. She goes, ‘Um, Trump tweeted you should be fired again.’ I was like, ‘Oh.’ And then I went downstairs and made bagels for the kids,” he said, drawing immediate laughter from the studio audience. The host, who has weathered Mr. Trump’s barbs since the 2016 campaign, feigned nonchalance before escalating into a pointed takedown. “I have honestly lost count now of how many times the president has demanded I be pulled off the air,” he continued. “Talk about a snowflake, this guy. Every five weeks, he flips out and wants me fired.”
The monologue wove in fresh jabs at Mr. Trump’s second-term approval ratings, which a Quinnipiac poll pegged at a low of 39 percent this week, and his handling of the Epstein controversy. Mr. Kimmel replayed clips of the president’s testy exchange with a Bloomberg reporter last week, in which Mr. Trump snapped, “Quiet, piggy!” when pressed on the files’ release — a moment that has since drawn widespread condemnation for its condescension. “It’s also sweet that, even in the middle of the biggest sex scandal in the history of the American presidency, he takes precious time on the toilet to post about our show,” Mr. Kimmel quipped, alluding to the timing of Mr. Trump’s post. “Keeps saying we have bad ratings. And you should listen to him, because if anyone knows about bad ratings, it’s that guy.” He then cut to a montage of news clips charting Mr. Trump’s dipping polls, prompting sustained applause.
The segment peaked with Mr. Kimmel’s retort, delivered with a wry grin: “Mr. President, I admire your tenacity. If you’re watching tonight, which I presume you are, how about this: I’ll go when you go, OK? We’ll be a team. Let’s ride off into the sunset together like Butch Cassidy and the Suntan Kid. And until then, if I may borrow a phrase from you: Quiet, piggy.” The studio erupted in cheers, with audience members on their feet as confetti cannons fired — a spontaneous flourish from the production team that extended the ovation for nearly 30 seconds.
At Mar-a-Lago, where Mr. Trump was hosting a post-Thanksgiving donor brunch, the reaction was reportedly one of contained fury. Two people familiar with the gathering, speaking on condition of anonymity, described aides monitoring the broadcast on a side screen; when the “Quiet, piggy” line landed, the president paused mid-conversation, his face reddening, before muttering to an adviser, “That clown thinks he’s funny? Tell ABC they’re done.” By early afternoon, Mr. Trump had amplified the feud on Truth Social, reposting supporter memes of Mr. Kimmel as a “deep-state puppet” and renewing threats against the network’s broadcast license. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during Friday’s briefing, dismissed the exchange as “Hollywood irrelevance,” but insiders say the president views Mr. Kimmel as a personal affront, watching episodes religiously despite public denials.
The dust-up highlights the precarious position of late-night comedy in Mr. Trump’s America. Mr. Kimmel’s show, which drew 4.2 million viewers Thursday — its highest in months — has seen a 25 percent uptick in young adult ratings since January, buoyed by anti-Trump segments. Yet the host’s future is uncertain; ABC executives, navigating pressure from the FCC and affiliates wary of alienating conservative audiences, have yet to extend his deal. “Jimmy’s leverage is his audience, but Trump’s leverage is the government,” one network source said. Mr. Kimmel, in a post-show interview with TMZ, shrugged: “If they want me gone, fine. But until then, I’ve got a microphone — and he’s got a button. Guess which one scares me more?”
For Mr. Trump, the episode underscores a second-term vulnerability: a thin skin that amplifies minor slights into national spectacles. Allies like Representative Jim Jordan have floated legislation to “reform” broadcast indecency rules, but even they caution against overreach. “He’s punching down at a comedian while polls tank — not smart,” one House Republican said privately.
As the clip hurtles toward 50 million views on YouTube, the feud endures as a microcosm of broader cultural divides. In an era where presidents tweet and hosts roast, Mr. Kimmel’s parting shot wasn’t just punchy — it was prescient. “I’ll go when you go,” he said. In Washington’s pressure cooker, that may come sooner than either imagines.
