Kimmel and Che’s Savage Epstein Parody Ignites Studio Bedlam and Trump’s Late-Night Fury Over ‘Dark Secret’

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

President Donald J. Trump’s second term, a relentless barrage of feuds and file fights, detonated into surreal farce on Monday when “Saturday Night Live” head writer Michael Che made a surprise drop-in on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” teaming with the host for a merciless parody that “exposed” the president’s “dark secret” — a hallucinatory riff on his Epstein ties as a “time-traveling pedophile plot” involving a “golden Rolodex from hell.” The six-minute segment, blending Mr. Che’s deadpan absurdity with Mr. Kimmel’s manic energy, erupted into studio mayhem when a prop “Epstein vault” exploded in glitter and fake subpoenas, showering the set and sending cast members scrambling amid howls of laughter. Viewed over 16 million times on YouTube by Tuesday morning, the chaos has spread to Mar-a-Lago like digital napalm, with Mr. Trump unleashing a 2 a.m. Truth Social apocalypse accusing ABC of “satanic psyops” and demanding the network’s evisceration, while his camp fractures under the weight of viral mockery and Democratic midterm glee.

The bit, slotted into Mr. Kimmel’s monologue amid the Dec. 20 Epstein files deadline — a congressional mandate Mr. Trump signed under veto-proof pressure — started as a nod to Mr. Che’s “SNL” sketches lampooning Trump’s file stonewalling. The comedian, 41, whose weekend update features often skewer the president as a “conspiracy clown,” ambled onstage unannounced, clutching a comically oversized manila envelope labeled “Trump’s Dark Secret: The Epstein Edition.” “Jimmy, I got this from a deep-throat source — turns out Trump’s not hiding files; he’s hiding a portal to 1992, where he’s the Lolita Express pilot, ferrying celebs to ‘island time’ with a side of Diet Coke,” Mr. Che deadpanned, his eyes wide in mock horror. Mr. Kimmel, 57, collapsed in giggles: “Michael, spill — what’s the ‘disturbing’ part? The frequent flier miles or the mile-high club presidency?”

The studio ignited when Mr. Che “opened” the envelope, triggering a Rube Goldberg contraption that unleashed a torrent of glitter, shredded paper and pop-up holograms of cartoon Trump clones fleeing subpoenas. Band members dove for cover, Mr. Kimmel slipped on the debris (“This is worse than the shutdown confetti at the Capitol!”), and Mr. Che, unfazed, morphed into a pitch-perfect Trump: “Wrong! It’s all fake news — the files are in my safe, next to the nuclear codes and Mar-a-Lago deed to Epstein’s ghost!” The audience’s roar drowned the house lights, with chants of “Release the files!” echoing as stagehands mopped glitter mid-segment. Producers, later admitting the “vault” was a jury-rigged prank from Mr. Che’s “SNL” prop shop, kept rolling for “unfiltered gold,” a call that catapulted the clip to 25 million views and #CheExposesTrump trending with 4.8 million X mentions by dawn.

Mr. Trump’s eruption crashed at 2:03 a.m. Tuesday, a 800-word Truth Social Armageddon viewed over 45 million times: “MICHAEL CHE the NO-TALENT SNL FLOP and DESPERATE KIMMEL UNLEASH THEIR SATANIC ‘dark secret’ HOAX on CORRUPT ABC! Epstein psyop, glitter bombs — DEEP STATE RITUAL! Files are CLEAN — they’re the DIRTY ONES! FCC, ANNIHILATE THIS GARBAGE — LICENSES GONE FOREVER! WAKE UP, MAGA — THEY HATE US!” The posts, studded with reposts of memes depicting Mr. Che as a glitter demon tormenting a cartoon Trump, concealed a cataclysm at Mar-a-Lago: Aides leaked the president, wild-eyed during an all-nighter briefing, upended a side table and roared at Chief of Staff Susie Wiles: “Che’s a terrorist — get SNL off NBC too!” Press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s Tuesday briefing imploded into evasion, branding the skit “obscene ritual defamation,” but a leaked crisis memo exposed terror: Disney hemorrhaged 200,000 subscribers overnight, with Nexstar affiliates fielding dual boycotts from MAGA and free-speech activists.

The studio inferno fanned a late-night inferno. Mr. Kimmel, taping Tuesday, recycled the glitter geyser in slow-mo: “Michael Che exposed Trump’s secret? Nah — he exposed how one envelope can bury a presidency in sparkle.” Seth Meyers jabbed on NBC: “Che’s vault of secrets? Trump’s already got one — it’s called the Oval Office.” Stephen Colbert, exiled to podcasts post-CBS purge, consecrated an episode: “Glitter bombs and ghost files — Trump’s dark secret is he’s allergic to accountability.” The alliance avalanche boosted Mr. Kimmel’s ratings 45 percent to 3.3 million, while #TrumpDarkSecret trended with 5.2 million X posts, fusing Che clips with Epstein docket leaks and memes of fogged Mar-a-Lago war rooms.

Capitol Hill Democrats dynamited the disarray into midterm munitions. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., beamed the bedlam on the floor: “Che and Kimmel just subpoenaed Trump’s soul — his meltdown’s the real dark secret, and voters see the sparkle.” Teaming with Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Mr. Jeffries propelled the “Parody Protection Act,” barricading broadcasters from FCC “voodoo,” co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who scorched the tactics as “vintage McCarthy glitter.” Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., subpoenaed Mr. Carr for Dec. 22 hearings, pledging to unearth White House “vault” directives on affiliate arm-twisting. Republicans splintered: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me., dubbed the skit “ribald but resilient,” while Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., equivocated on Fox: “Che’s clever, Kimmel’s killer — but Trump’s battling beasts. Muzzle the mockery.” A bipartisan Siena poll pegged Mr. Trump’s youth favorability at 27 percent, cratered 10 points, with the segment flagged as “glittering embarrassment.”

For Mr. Che, the mayhem was manifesto. The “SNL” scribe, whose update bits eviscerate Trump as a “conspiracy colossus,” told Variety post-chaos: “Trump’s dark secret? He fears fun — glitter’s just the sparkle on the subpoena.” Mr. Kimmel, suspension-scarred from Kirk quips, wielded the vault as allegory: “One pop, and the secrets spill — Trump’s regime in a nutshell.” Perils prowl: Family Research Council crusades menace $15 million in ad alchemy, and Mr. Carr’s inquisition could ensnare NBC, “SNL’s” sanctuary.

The live-air Armageddon spotlights a presidency where lampoon lacerates lethal. Mr. Trump, tube titan turned target, now assaults airwaves as adversaries. Chroniclers conjure Nixon’s 1972 Leno lunacy, but byte-boosted. “Che and Kimmel didn’t unveil secrets — they unveiled the vertigo of power panicked by punchlines,” said Kathryn Cramer Brownell, Purdue media maven. On X, #CheExposesTrump thundered with 4.5 million mentions, from vault vignettes to viral dissections dubbing the “golden Rolodex” Epstein easter egg.

As Tuesday transpired, Mr. Trump teed off through tumult, tweeting: “CHE CLOWN — talentless hack! Kimmel’s kaput.” Yet with midterms nine moons off and mayhem metastatic, the savage skewer lingers: One envelope’s eruption, and the Trump troupe tumbles in tinsel.