Jimmy Kimmel didn’t hold back when responding to Elon Musk’s recent scathing critique.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s historic win in the 2024 US presidential election, Kimmel delivered a poignant monologue that ruffled more than a few feathers, including those of the tech mogul, Elon Musk.
On his show Wednesday night, Kimmel shared his thoughts on the election results, lamenting the loss of democracy — a segment that quickly caught viral attention.
During that opening monologue, the late-night host – clearly emotional from the landslide win – described Trump’s victory as “a terrible night for women, for children, for the hundreds of thousands of hard-working immigrants who make this country go, for healthcare, for our climate, for science, for journalism, for justice, for free speech”.
This led Musk – who took over the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, now X, in recent years – to lash out at Kimmel, branding him an “insufferable nonsense propaganda puppet”.
But Kimmel hit back during his Thursday night show with a mix of humor, biting sarcasm, and an incredibly personal dig.
“Last night, I shared some of my thoughts and feelings about what happened and how much I’m gonna miss democracy… and none more prominent than the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, weighed in,” Kimmel began.
After recounting Musk’s insult, Kimmel delivered a six-word personal blow…
“At least my children like me,” he said.
This comment came as Musk’s daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson – who is transgender – vowed to leave the United States now that Trump is president-elect. Vivian has also distanced herself from her father, saying: “I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape, or form,” per Reuters.
Continuing his counterattack, Kimmel took aim at Musk’s input amid the lead up to Election Day, saying: “The guy who paid people $1 million a day to vote for Donald Trump is calling me a propaganda puppet. Listen, Kermit, you bought a social media platform that is literally a propaganda machine.
“If I spent two weeks trying to come up with a four-word description of Elon Musk, I don’t think I could do better than ‘insufferable nonsense propaganda puppet.'”
Not stopping there, Kimmel dug into Musk’s past, bringing up various instances where Musk dismissed credible news outlets like the New York Times and NPR as mere propaganda. He also referenced a past post from Trump on his Truth Social platform, where Trump claimed Musk was excessively needy during a White House visit.
In that particular post from 2022, Trump wrote: “When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, ‘drop to your knees and beg,’ and he would have done it.”
“Now Elon should focus on getting himself out of the Twitter mess because he could owe $44 billion for something that’s perhaps worthless,” Trump asserted in a separate post. “Also, lots of competition for electric cars!”
While savage, of course, it seems that Trump and Musk have put any differences aside – with Trump even complimenting SpaceX’s latest successes in his victory speech on Tuesday night.
Musk, known for his frequent and often controversial tweets, has yet to clap back at Kimmel’s fiery retort.