Fact Check: Did Jimmy Kimmel say Trump was 'unfit' for office in his final monologue on his show?
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A claim has been circulating online alleging that late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel delivered a fiery monologue attacking President Donald Trump, which supposedly aired on ABC before being scrubbed from the network.
The photograph has spread widely on social media, leading many to wonder whether he actually made such a remark. Here’s what the evidence shows.
Claim: Jimmy Kimmel slammed Trump in his final monologue
The rumor circulated this month that talk show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel had delivered his "final monologue" on his show 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' in which he heavily criticized Trump.
An alleged photograph of Kimmel holding a sign that stated, "Donald Trump is not fitness to be president. Do you agree? Be honest with me," was shared on Facebook by a user, Global Political Insights.
The post was accompanied by a caption: “Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel didn't mince words during Thursday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, delivering a blistering six-minute monologue declaring President Donald Trump 'completely unfit' to hold the office."
It continued, "Citing his history of dishonesty, attacks on democracy, and what Kimmel called a brain that's more scrambled than RFK Jr's after the worm incident."
"Folks, we're one year into Trump 2.0, and it's clearer than ever: This guy is unfit to be president. Unfit! He's unfit to run a lemonade stand, let alone the United States," Kimmel opened, drawing cheers and laughter from the studio audience."
"Referencing Trump's past actions, Kimmel hammered on the January 6 Capitol riot, saying, 'He incited an insurrection, tried to steal an election, and now he's back in the White House like nothing happened. If that doesn't scream "unfit," I don't know what does.'
Fact Check: The viral images and the captions are AI-generated
Although some people believed the post to be true, the images are AI-generated, and the captions do not recount real-life events.
GPTZero, a tool for detecting artificial intelligence in text, rated the captions for the posts as having a 99% and 100% likelihood of being AI-generated, respectively.
The images were also run through AI detection tools such as AI or Not, SightEngine, and Hive Moderation, all of which determined a very high likelihood that the images were AI-generated.
Even without detection software, the images appear clearly fake, as shown by Kimmel’s artificially exaggerated features. The same Facebook page posted multiple images of Kimmel in the exact same pose and expression, holding different signs, another indicator of AI manipulation.
Additionally, a review of Kimmel’s recent programming shows no evidence that he made such statements or suggested that his show was being pulled off the air.
Jimmy Kimmel's suspension and criticism of Trump
The late-night show was suspended in September following criticism of Kimmel’s comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's death.
Eventually, the show was reinstated after widespread condemnation of its suspension.
Since returning, Kimmel has not shied away from criticizing Trump. He has consistently slammed the administration, at one point calling Trump a "bloated, useless entity that delivered no peace."
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.
