Key Points
Jimmy Kimmel threatened to call the FCC on Trump after the president suggested Iran should bomb California.
“They can take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay,” Trump said on Tuesday.
“Okay, this is insane. This really is, even from him,” Kimmel declared.
Jimmy Kimmel isn’t afraid to make a few phone calls on President Trump.
In the latest chapter of their longstanding feud, the late-night host called out Trump during his monologue on Tuesday, Oct. 6, for the president’s “truly appalling” suggestion that Iran should bomb California. Trump made the comment during a midterm election rally in Grand Island, Neb. earlier this week.
“It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” Trump had told the crowd, referring to the economic impact of the Iran war, such as rising gas prices.
Donald Trump on Oct. 2, 2026
Credit: Dan Anderson/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
“They can take out a city. Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.”
“Oh, you’re booing. But they’re cheering,” Kimmel cut in. “And he’s talking about Iran bombing us. And I know he says a lot of crazy things. I know this is something we’ll forget about by Thursday when he accidentally swallows a baby at a rally or whatever the hell he does next.”
“But that’s one of the craziest, most indefensible statements I have ever heard even this maniac make. Openly musing about Iran, a country we are currently at war with, taking out two American cities while his adoring fans cheer him on.”
“But it’s okay because we’re liberals. We deserve to be bombed,” Kimmel continued.
“Now we have our own president wishing death to America. We had already had a huge bomb here this weekend. It’s called Digger,” the comedian added, taking a swing at the rough opening of Tom Cruise’s latest movie. “Okay, this is insane. This really is, even from him.”
Kimmel then referred to Trump’s threats to pull his show in April, after Kimmel joked about Trump and First Lady Melania’s relationship and how conservative-leaning media outlets responded, calling him “deeply unfunny,” and claiming Kimmel’s own commentary could lead to violence.
Jimmy Kimmel on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’
Credit: Jimmy Kimmel Live/Youtube
“So if that joke, if that rhetoric, was deranged and dangerous and violent and dark, surely you must be mortified by the president of the United States casually ruminating about the deaths of 13 million people,” Kimmel argued.
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Meanwhile, the conservative-leaning media outlets claimed that “the left can’t take a joke,” referring to Trump’s nuke comments. “You know what? I’m going to report him to the FCC,” Kimmel declared as the audience cheered. “No, it’s a joke. Or, it was not a joke.”
“The hypocrisy is so glaring, you can’t even turn your head toward it. You will get blind,” he concluded.
The White House Director of Communcations, Steven Cheung, responded on social media to Trump’s comments going viral. “The media freakout over President Trump’s comments is not rooted in reality. He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped,” the post read.
“America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money.”
A White House spokesman shared in a statement to Entertainment Weekly: “Jimmy Kimmel is a no-talent loser who has beclowned himself with tanking ratings and by spewing disgusting lies to his dwindling audience. He is so devoid of actual talent that nobody with any commonsense would ever watch him unless it was to laugh at his miserable failures.”
Following the statement, the spokesman pointed EW toward Cheung’s tweet.
Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Sept. 28, 2026
Credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty
California Governor Gavin Newsom also slammed Trump for the comments he made on Tuesday, calling him “deranged and dangerous” on social media.
“An American president is talking about Los Angeles and San Diego being ‘taken out.’ Where the hell is Congress? This is dangerous. The time to stand up is NOW.”
Watch Jimmy Kimmel’s full monologue from Tuesday evening below.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly