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By Megan Cartwright
Associate News Editor
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Jimmy Kimmel fired back at the White House on Jimmy Kimmel Live! after it renewed its attack on the late-night host and described his television ratings as “failing.”
The latest exchange extends an increasingly personal dispute between Kimmel and Trump’s administration following the comedian’s criticism of the president after the midterm elections, when he urged him to quit.
The White House has made Kimmel’s ratings part of its attack, but recent Nielsen figures cited by ABC paint a different picture: Jimmy Kimmel Live! ended last season with its largest overall audience in eight years.
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Newsweek reached out to Kimmel's representative via email for comment on Tuesday.
Kimmel Responds to White House Attack
In Monday's opening monologue, Kimmel mocked Trump's keynote address at the Kennedy Space Center aerospace expo over the weekend. In his speech, the president pronounced "genome" as "ganome."
"Most people don't know genome has a 'g' in it," Kimmel laughed. "They pronounce it ganome."
"And then the White House got back to the important business of attacking me," Kimmel continued.
He then read aloud its latest response from spokesperson Davis Ingle, which allegedly stated: “Jimmy Kimmel's case of Trump Derangement Syndrome is so advanced that it has completely rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
The statement added: “He's far more entertaining when you're laughing at him than with him, but unfortunately, his real talent is his failing ratings.”
"Sick burn, bro," Kimmel said on the show in response. "You know what? You should enter a rap battle spitting dope rhymes like that."
Kimmel noted that "Trump now has interns insulting me" and said: "It's like that sad day when your cat gets too fat to chase mice. This guy says I have a peanut-sized brain. Let me explain something. I know you're young. That's impossible."
Newsweek reached out to Ingle via email for comment on Tuesday.
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What the Ratings Show
Recent audience figures provide important context for the White House’s characterization of Kimmel’s ratings.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! averaged 2 million total viewers during the 2025-2026 television season, its largest average audience in eight years, according to ABC figures based on Nielsen National Live+Same Day ratings.
Among adults aged 18 to 49, the show averaged a 0.18 rating, which ABC said put it at No. 1 across late-night programming and represented its strongest performance among that demographic in four years.
Its new season also began strongly. During the week of September 21, 2026, Jimmy Kimmel Live! ranked first in late-night in both total viewers, with 2.29 million, and adults aged 18 to 49, with a 0.21 rating. It was the second consecutive season in which the program opened at No. 1 in both measures.
How the Feud Escalated
The latest remarks followed an earlier confrontation sparked by Kimmel’s response to the midterm elections.
During his November 4 monologue, the comedian disputed Trump’s argument that Republicans would have performed better had the president himself been on the ballot.
“You were on the ballot,” Kimmel said, before arguing that Trump had become inseparable from the country’s political landscape.
"You’re like dog hair; you’re on everything. You’ve infected every nook and cranny of our lives. You divided this country like no one else ever divided it before. The only time you ever brought us together was yesterday, when we all teamed up to get rid of you!"
He later urged the president to leave office, telling him: “Quit already, just quit. Nobody wants you.”
The remarks drew a response from Ingle, who called Kimmel a “no-talent loser” and claimed he had “tanking ratings.”
Kimmel responded on air by mocking the spokesperson’s name and saying it seemed like a particularly bad time to call him a “loser.”
"The last thing I want to do is tell you how to do your job Danny Dingle, but today seems like a bad day for you to call me a loser," he said, seemingly referring to the midterm results.
Kimmel and Trump's Long-Running Feud
The latest exchange is another chapter in a years-long war of words between Kimmel and Trump, with both men repeatedly using public platforms to take shots at the other.
Kimmel has made Trump a frequent subject of his late-night monologues, targeting his presidency, policies and public appearances. Trump, in turn, has repeatedly criticized the host and his show, including attacking his ratings and comedy.
Their feud has occasionally extended beyond the usual late-night jokes. Trump criticized Kimmel's performance as host of the 2024 Academy Awards while the ceremony was still underway. Kimmel responded live from the stage, reading the criticism to the audience before joking: “Isn't it past your jail time?”
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Emma Lee-Sang
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