Kimmel Surrenders to Hannity, Apologizes, Admits Role in 'Inciting Hatefulness'
Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel officially ended a Twitter feud with Sean Hannity that began with an insensitive comment about first lady Melania Trump’s accent and ended up with him suggesting that Hannity was involved in a sexual relationship with the president by apologizing to Hannity — and the LGBT community — on the social media platform.
The lengthy apology came after liberals began attacking Kimmel for the tweets and their perceived homophobic content.
“While I admit I did have some fun with our back and forth, after some thought, I realize the level of vitriol from all sides (mine and me included) does nothing good for anyone and, in fact, is harmful to our country,” Kimmel wrote in the Sunday evening tweet.
Kimmel went on to claim that he had received death threats over the spat and that he apologized to Hannity for both his behavior and for the skit that caused it.
“I, too, will give more thought and recognize my role in inciting hatefulness,” Kimmel wrote. “By lampooning Sean Hannity’s deference to the President, I most certainly did not intend to belittle or upset members of the gay community and to those who took offense, I apologize.
“I will take Sean Hannity at his word that he was genuinely offended by what I believed and still believe to be a harmless and silly aside referencing our First Lady’s accent,” he continued.
“Mrs. Trump almost certainly has enough to worry about without being used as a prop to increase TV ratings.”
In the aside, Kimmel can be seen talking over a clip of the first lady, reading a book at the White House Easter egg roll: “About dees and that. Guillermo, do you know what this means?” Kimmel said to sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez, according to Politico. “You could be first lady of the United States.”
Kimmel also said, tongue in cheek, that he was “hopeful” the Fox News host would learn from his “newly found advocacy from women and immigrants.”
re. @seanhannity pic.twitter.com/DMtWJTMsDU
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) April 8, 2018
After the clip in question had aired, Hannity had called Kimmel a “disgrace” and an “a** clown.”
After a few rejoinders in which the late-night host said that he was represented the “Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey of a** clownsmanship” and Hannity showed a few of Kimmel’s sexist segments from “The Man Show,” Kimmel ended up responding with these graphic tweets:
When your clown makeup rubs off on Trump’s ass, does it make his butt look like a Creamsicle? https://t.co/DEhmfOh0Hn
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) April 6, 2018
Don't worry – just keep tweeting – you'll get back on top! (or does Trump prefer you on bottom?) Either way, keep your chin up big fella..XO https://t.co/R4QJCoGYCL
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) April 6, 2018
These didn’t just rise the ire of Hannity, as he had planned to do, but also of liberals like Perez Hilton who found the comments homophobic.
Hannity, for his part, said he would address the controversy on Monday night’s show.
I suppose there’s something funny when you see the left either eating their own or absolving their own because they follow the party line. However, the fact is that Kimmel has been getting away with this sort of behavior for years now.
This will go away quickly because the funnyman makes a lot of Trump jokes, but the fact remains he’s always been a vulgarian (see also: “Man Show, The”) and will continue to be. He’s only apologized because, for once, his vulgarian nature touched on one of the taboos of the left.
Is he truly sorry? Unlikely.
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