Jimmy Kimmel jokes that Trump ‘ignored pandemic and his wife on Mother’s Day’ to tweet about him

‘This really is the dumbest time to be alive’

Jimmy Kimmel has continued to mock Donald Trump and Mike Pence after the president branded his show “fake news” for sharing a misleadingly edited video.

The TV host was forced to apologise on Twitter last week, after he broadcast a widely shared video of vice president Pence “giving out” empty PPE boxes that was later proven to be heavily edited, with Kimmel finding himself on the receiving end of threats and verbal abuse from Trump and his followers.

Talking about the video during his opening monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he explained: “It was not a doctored video, by the way. We didn’t do anything to it. Doctors are the people Donald Trump doesn’t listen to and doctored videos are something Donald Trump posts all the time. Some of his paid campaign ads are doctored videos that had to be violating the rules about that sort of thing.”

He continued: “I got an email from the vice president’s office requesting that I apologise on air. On Twitter wasn’t enough I guess. They wanted it on air, because this is what they’re thinking about while thousands of Americans are dying every day. Jokes from late-night talk show hosts.”

With Trump taking to Twitter to call Jimmy Kimmel Live a “last place show” during what the presenter called his “strangest Mother’s Day ever”, Kimmel recalled: “So yesterday, it’s Mother’s Day, and we’re having a nice morning with the family and I get a text that says, ‘The president is tweeting about you.’

“It took me a while to find it because he tweeted 125 times yesterday. He tweeted once every seven and a half minutes yesterday. That’s impressive. He ignored a pandemic and his wife on Mother’s Day. He really can do it all.

“This really is the dumbest time to be alive,” Kimmel said. “I always assumed that if I got involved in some kind of a Twitter feud with the president it would be with President Kanye in 2028. But no, it came early.”