Jimmy Kimmel is taking a two-month break from his late-night show, but Donald Trump won’t be getting a reprieve anytime soon.
The TV host announced on his show this week that another longtime enemy of the president’s will be filling in for him during his planned hiatus.
“I hope you’re paying attention this summer, because I will be taking the next two months off — this time voluntarily,” Kimmel joked, referring to his temporary suspension last year over comments about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s death.
“We have assembled a potent group of hosts to fill in for me, beginning with Tiffany Haddish, Colman Domingo, Ike Barinholtz, Anthony Anderson, Jelly Roll,” Kimmel said.
“And as a special treat for our commander in chief, I asked one of his all-time favorites, Rosie O’Donnell, to be here to keep the hits coming,” he continued.
“You’re welcome, and all I ask in return, Mr. President, is that you don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”
Kimmel began taking lengthy summer hiatuses in 2020, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. Since then, summer guest-host periods have become an annual tradition for Jimmy Kimmel Live! This year’s guest hosts will start the week of July 6.
O’Donnell’s long-running feud with Trump stretches back to 2006, when she was a host on The View.
It reached new heights during Trump’s 2015 presidential campaign. When moderator Megyn Kelly challenged Trump during a Republican debate about derogatory comments he had made about women, Trump famously replied: “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”
Since then, the pair have frequently traded barbs over social media.
The actor and comedian, 63, moved to Ireland in January with her youngest child, Clay, in response to Trump’s return to the White House.
During an interview on the No Filter podcast, O’Donnell said she decided not to attend her other daughter, Vivienne’s, graduation from the University of Delaware last year because “security people said to me they didn't think it was wise.”
“Because I think Trump will use me to rile his base,” she added.
Late last year, Trump, 79, posted a distorted photograph of the star and claimed: “We are giving serious thought to taking away Rosie O’Donnell’s Citizenship.”
In response to Trump’s post threatening to take away her citizenship, O’Donnell wrote on Instagram: “Banishing me again? Logan Roy would be proud,” in a reference to Brian Cox’s media mogul in Succession.
