Jimmy Kimmel and Jamie Foxx Deliver Blistering Monologue on Trump and Epstein Files, Prompting Frenzy at Mar-a-Lago

By Katie Rogers and Jeremy W. Peters Dec. 4, 2025

LOS ANGELES — In a late-night television moment that ricocheted across the political landscape, Jimmy Kimmel and the actor Jamie Foxx teamed up on Wednesday to eviscerate President Donald J. Trump over his decades-long association with Jeffrey Epstein, delivering a 12-minute monologue so pointed that it left the Mar-a-Lago estate in what aides described as a state of “absolute pandemonium” hours later.

The segment, the most watched episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” since the 2024 election, began innocently enough. Mr. Foxx, promoting a new Netflix comedy special, strode onto the stage in a tailored burgundy suit and launched into what appeared to be a standard celebrity interview. Within seconds, however, the conversation pivoted to the tranche of Epstein documents unsealed this week that mention Mr. Trump more than 70 times — references to private dinners, plane flights, and a 2002 quote in which Mr. Trump called Epstein a “terrific guy” who liked women “on the younger side.”

Mr. Kimmel, leaning against his desk with mock seriousness, asked Mr. Foxx to “translate” the president’s past denials for the audience. What followed was a master class in comic timing and controlled fury.

“Man, look,” Mr. Foxx began, slipping into the exaggerated cadence he once used to impersonate Mr. Trump on “In Living Color” in the 1990s. “I barely knew the guy. I flew on the plane one time — maybe seven, eight, fourteen times — but I never went to the island. Okay, I went to the island, but I stayed on the tarmac. And yeah, I wished Ghislaine Maxwell well, but only because I’m a gentleman. Tremendous gentleman. People are saying the most gentlemanly.”

The studio audience roared. Mr. Kimmel, struggling to keep a straight face, projected side-by-side photos: Mr. Trump and Epstein grinning at a 1997 Mar-a-Lago party, and a 2025 shot of Mr. Trump scowling at reporters asking about the files. “Jamie,” Mr. Kimmel deadpanned, “the president says these are all coincidences. Like the 14 times he dialed Epstein’s Palm Beach number from the White House residence in 2019. Coincidence?”

Mr. Foxx stood, pacing the stage like a prosecutor. “Fourteen calls? Bro, I don’t call my own mama that much unless somebody died. And nobody died — except, well…” He trailed off, letting the silence speak. The crowd erupted again, this time with audible gasps.

The pièce de résistance came when Mr. Kimmel cued a supercut: Mr. Trump in 2002 praising Epstein, Mr. Trump in 2019 claiming he “wasn’t a fan,” and Mr. Trump last week insisting he “never met the man.” Over the footage, Mr. Foxx provided running voice-over in his Trump impression: “I know nothing. Nothing! I have the best memory, but somehow I forgot this guy entirely. Total blank. Like my tax returns.”

By the time the band struck up a brassy riff, the audience was on its feet. Nielsen later clocked the segment at 4.8 million viewers — the show’s highest overnight rating in a decade.

At Mar-a-Lago, the reaction was volcanic. According to four people present, the president was hosting a small dinner for donors when an aide rushed in with an iPad showing the live broadcast. Mr. Trump reportedly watched in silence for 30 seconds, then hurled a crystal tumbler against a wall, shattering it. “Who booked this animal Foxx?” he shouted, according to witnesses. “He’s supposed to be one of ours!”

What followed, the sources said, was a two-hour tirade that ricocheted from blaming Foxx (“I made him!”) to threatening ABC’s license (“Carr, get me Carr on the phone!”) to demanding that Kash Patel, the FBI director, open an investigation into Mr. Kimmel for “defamation of a sitting president.” At one point, the president reportedly ordered the dining-room televisions tuned to every channel simultaneously, creating a cacophony of late-night hosts replaying the clip.

Aides described a scene of near-physical chaos: plates cleared in haste, donors escorted out early, and Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary nominee, pacing the terrace while live-tweeting defenses that only amplified the viral montage. By 1:30 a.m., the estate’s WhatsApp groups were flooded with screenshots of the monologue and frantic instructions to “find something — anything — on Kimmel and Foxx.”

Mr. Foxx, reached by phone early Thursday, sounded unfazed. “I’ve been doing Trump since the ’90s,” he said. “He used to laugh when I roasted him at the Apollo. Now the man can’t take a joke? That’s on him.”

Mr. Kimmel, in a brief statement to reporters outside the El Capitan Theatre, struck a more somber note. “We’re not the ones who partied with a child sex trafficker for 15 years,” he said. “If the truth hurts that badly, maybe sit this one out.”

The White House had no official comment Thursday morning, though Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters aboard Air Force One that the president was “in superb spirits” and “focused on tariffs, not tired late-night losers.” By noon, however, Mr. Trump had posted seven times on Truth Social, calling Mr. Foxx a “washed-up has-been” and Mr. Kimmel “the lowest-rated man on television” — a claim contradicted by the overnight ratings.

The episode has intensified calls from Democrats for full, unredacted release of the remaining Epstein files. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who has led the congressional push, said Thursday that the comedic takedown “did more to focus public attention in twelve minutes than we’ve managed in twelve months of hearings.”

For now, the clip continues its viral ascent, already nearing 60 million views across platforms. At Mar-a-Lago, the broken crystal has been swept away, but the sting — and the laughter echoing from Hollywood — lingers.