Trump roasts 'terrible' Jimmy Kimmel when asked about Kennedy Center Honors hosting preparations

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump’s long-running feud with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has continued to catch headlines. At the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, the president and first lady Melania Trump were the center of attention, drawing cameras and reporters wherever they went. 

During a brief media interaction, Trump talked about his preparations for hosting the event and took a subtle dig at Kimmel, calling him “terrible.”

The president had also labelled the talk show host “horrible” earlier, during a ceremony in the Oval Office in Washington, DC, on Saturday, December 6, ahead of the Kennedy Centre Honors. 

Although it was meant as a playful jab, Kimmel has not yet responded to the comments.

Trump disses Jimmy Kimmel as a 'not-so-great' host

When asked, "Mr President, how have you prepared to host tonight?" Trump replied, "Well, maybe I haven't prepared. Maybe you want to be a little bit loose if you look at the great host Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, oh, those are the greats."

He continued without missing a beat, "If you look at the not-so-greats like Jimmy Kimmel, he was just terrible, but, uh, no, I think you want to be just loose and not allowed to prepare for, right? You know what you have to be? You have to be yourself," he concluded.

Trump demands Jimmy Kimmel’s firing, comedian claps back on air

Trump and Kimmel’s ongoing feud made headlines once more just a few weeks ago. Trump reignited his long-running feud with Kimmel on taking to Truth Social to call for ABC to fire the late-night host and describing him as having “NO TALENT” and “VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS.” 

Later, Kimmel addressed the president directly on his show, poking fun at Trump’s persistence. “You’ve done this before. You tried to get me fired in September. It didn’t work,” Kimmel said. “Mr President, I admire your tenacity.” 

For those unaware, Kimmel’s show had briefly been suspended in mid-September after comments he made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, following pressure from ABC’s major affiliates, Nexstar and Sinclair, and FCC chair Brendan Carr. 

The comedian shared how he learned about Trump’s latest call for his firing: “I woke up this morning, I’m in bed, my wife comes out of the bathroom - she’s got her phone.  She goes, ‘Um, Trump tweeted you should be fired again.’ I was like, ‘Oh,’ and then I went downstairs and made bagels for the kids.”

On his show, Kimmel called Trump a “snowflake” and jokingly replied to a Bloomberg News comment with, “Quiet, piggy,” as per The Guardian.

Trump has also asked NBC to fire Seth Meyers, another late-night host. Meyers responded with humor, saying, “I handle these situations like an angry driver who honks and flips you off on the highway - you just ignore them. Unless you’re in New Jersey, then technically, that’s a marriage proposal.”