Jimmy Kimmel relentlessly mocked “bully” Donald Trump in the second episode of his show to air since he returned from a temporary suspension.
The late-night host wasted no time in setting his sights on the US president, who last week celebrated news of his brief axing as “great news for America”.
He told Jimmy Kimmel Live! viewers that he talks about Mr Trump more than anything “because he’s a bully and I don’t like bullies”.
In response to Trump saying he couldn’t believe US network ABC gave Kimmel his job back, the host referenced the president winning the election for a second time.
“You can’t believe they gave me my job back? I can’t believe we gave you your job back! We’re even,” he said.
Kimmel also addressed Mr Trump’s suggestion that he had been fired for poor ratings, asking: “Has anyone ever been fired for bad ratings on a Wednesday?”
The screen then showed poor polling for the president, with Kimmel stating: “He does know bad ratings. He has some of the worst ratings any president has ever had.”
Kimmel also denied Mr Trump’s claim that the White House had been told his show was cancelled by ABC.
The host’s series returned on Tuesday, six days after he was suspended for his controversial remarks about the identity of Tyler Robinson, the suspected gunman behind the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Upon his initial return to screens, Kimmel said of Mr Trump: “You almost have to feel sorry for him. He tried. Did his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly.”
ABC’s initial decision to suspend Kimmel came soon after Nexstar Media Group, the largest owner of television stations across the country, said it would no longer air his show.
Nexstar owns America’s largest local broadcasting group, made up of top network affiliates, with more than 200 owned or partner stations in 116 US markets reaching 220 million people.
Hours before the decision was made public, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr, called Kimmel’s words “truly sick”.
Carr went on to say that his agency could hold ABC, Disney, and Jimmy Kimmel accountable for the comments. He said the comic appeared to be making an intentional effort to mislead the public into believing that Kirk’s assassin was a Trump supporter.
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