Kimmel and Carrey’s Surreal Trump Parody Erupts Into Studio Chaos, Sparking White House Meltdown Over ‘Disturbing Secrets’

By James Poniewozik and Michael M. Grynbaum Washington — Dec. 3, 2025

President Donald J. Trump’s second term, already besieged by scandals from Epstein file releases to FCC feuds, careened into fresh absurdity on Monday when a guest spot by Jim Carrey on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” devolved into a hallucinatory parody segment that “exposed” the president’s “disturbing secrets” — from alleged Mar-a-Lago escapades to a fabricated “golden toilet time machine” — leaving the studio in uproarious disarray and Mar-a-Lago in a state of televised pandemonium. The eight-minute bit, featuring Mr. Carrey’s elastic-faced Trump impersonation morphing into a fever-dream collage of historical figures, erupted when a prop malfunction sent confetti and smoke billowing across the set, prompting Mr. Kimmel to dive under his desk in mock terror. Viewed over 14 million times on YouTube by Tuesday dawn, the chaos has plunged the Trump camp into total meltdown, with the president firing off a midnight Truth Social barrage accusing ABC of “psyop warfare” and demanding the network’s immediate shutdown, while Democrats revel in the viral goldmine as midterm momentum builds.

The segment, taped Friday but aired Monday amid Mr. Kimmel’s ongoing battle with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr over his September suspension, began as a standard celebrity interview but veered into unhinged territory when Mr. Carrey, 63, the rubber-faced comic whose 2017-2018 HBO series “Kidding” included pointed Trump satires, launched into an impromptu impersonation. “I’ve played everyone from the Grinch to God, but Trump? He’s the ultimate elastic man — stretches the truth, bounces back from indictments, and oh, those hands,” Mr. Carrey said, contorting his face into a grotesque Trump scowl complete with exaggerated jowls and a quivering lip. The audience howled as he segued into a parody monologue: “Folks, I’m building the greatest wall — around my secrets! Like the golden toilet that time-travels to 1776, where I fight the British with tweets. And the Mar-a-Lago dungeon? Disturbing doesn’t cover it — ask the Epstein files, if they ever see daylight!”

Mr. Kimmel, 57, egged him on: “Jim, spill the beans — what’s the real ‘disturbing secret’? The hairpiece that’s alive?” The studio erupted when Mr. Carrey activated a prop “truth serum” gadget — a comically oversized syringe filled with green goo — triggering a malfunction that sprayed confetti and theatrical fog across the set. Band members scattered, Mr. Kimmel feigned a coughing fit (“Is this the deep state gas?”), and Mr. Carrey, unfazed, morphed mid-chaos into Abraham Lincoln: “Four score and seven years ago, I freed the slaves — but Trump? He’s freeing the base from facts!” The audience’s laughter turned to pandemonium as fog obscured the cameras, with Mr. Kimmel ad-libbing: “Cut to commercial — or is this the apocalypse now?” Producers later admitted the glitch was unintended, but left it in for “historic hilarity,” a decision that propelled the clip to 20 million views and #CarreyChaos trending globally.

Mr. Trump’s eruption came at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, a 750-word Truth Social thread viewed over 38 million times: “CRAZY CARREY the failed actor and DESPERATE KIMMEL expose their FAKE ‘secrets’ on RIGGED ABC! Disturibing? Their careers are DEAD! Golden toilet hoax, Epstein lies — DEEP STATE PSYOP! FCC, SHUT DOWN THIS TRASH — revoke licenses NOW! MAGA knows the TRUTH!” The posts, laced with reposts of memes showing Mr. Carrey as the Riddler tormenting a cartoon Trump, masked a deeper frenzy at Mar-a-Lago: Aides described the president, red-faced during a midnight donor call, hurling a remote at a screen and ordering Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to “get Carrey blacklisted — he’s un-American!” Press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s dawn briefing devolved into deflection, insisting the parody was “defamatory fiction,” but a leaked White House memo revealed panic over a 5-point approval dip among independents, per a Tuesday Quinnipiac flash poll.

The studio chaos spread like digital wildfire, galvanizing late-night’s resistance to FCC pressures. Mr. Kimmel, taping Tuesday, replayed the fog fiasco in slow motion: “Jim Carrey exposed Trump’s secrets? Nah — he exposed how one prop can smoke out the truth.” Seth Meyers quipped on NBC: “Carrey’s Trump went full Ace Ventura — sniffing out the disturbing vibes in Mar-a-Lago’s basement.” Stephen Colbert, relegated to podcasts after CBS’s July axing, dedicated an episode: “Fog machines and fake secrets — Trump’s presidency in a nutshell.” The cross-network wave spiked Mr. Kimmel’s ratings 42 percent to 3.1 million, while #TrumpDisturbingSecrets trended with 4.1 million X mentions, blending Carrey GIFs with Epstein file teasers and memes of fog-shrouded White House briefings.

Capitol Hill Democrats turned the meltdown into midterm mortar. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., screened the clip in a floor speech: “Carrey and Kimmel just fogged up Trump’s funhouse mirror — his ‘secrets’ are out, and the chaos is just beginning.” Joined by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Mr. Jeffries pushed the “Satire Shield Act,” protecting broadcasters from FCC “intimidation,” co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who decried the probes as “chilling echoes of McCarthyism.” Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., subpoenaed Mr. Carr for Dec. 18 hearings, vowing to expose White House “scripts” for affiliate pressure. Republicans splintered: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me., called the parody “over-the-top but fair game,” while Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hedged on Fox: “Carrey’s a clown, but Trump’s above this — focus on wins.” A bipartisan Emerson poll showed Mr. Trump’s favorability among young voters at 29 percent, down 8 points, with the segment cited as “embarrassing escalation.”

For Mr. Carrey, the chaos was cathartic. The comic, whose 2018 “Dumb Starbucks” stunt mocked Trump-era absurdities, told Variety post-taping: “Trump’s the ultimate rubber face — stretches reality till it snaps. We just gave it a poke.” Mr. Kimmel, whose suspension stemmed from Kirk jabs, used the fog as metaphor: “One glitch, and the secrets spill — Trump’s administration in a nutshell.” Risks persist: Advertiser boycotts from the Family Research Council threaten $11 million in revenue, and Mr. Carr’s review could extend to HBO, where Mr. Carrey’s past specials faced scrutiny.

The on-air eruption highlights a presidency where parody pierces deepest. Mr. Trump, reality TV’s former monarch, now battles its jesters as existential foes. Historians liken it to Nixon’s 1972 Carson feuds, but viral. “Carrey and Kimmel didn’t expose secrets — they exposed the fragility of power allergic to laughter,” said Kathryn Cramer Brownell, a Purdue media historian. On X, #CarreyExposesTrump surged with 3.8 million mentions, from elastic-face GIFs to viral threads decoding the “golden toilet” as Epstein nods.

As Tuesday broke, Mr. Trump golfed amid the haze, posting: “CARREY FLOP — unhinged lunatic! Kimmel’s done.” Yet with midterms looming and chaos contagious, the brutal takedown endures: One prop’s puff, and the Trump camp chokes on its own smoke.