Jimmy Kimmel's war of words with President Donald Trump is nowhere close to reaching a ceasefire.
The outspoken comedian and late-night host fired back at the White House during his monologue on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Thursday, Oct. 15, after spokesperson Davis Ingle criticized him for making fun of President Trump's event turnout.
"The White House also issued a not-so-fabulous statement today about me, in response to my monologue," Kimmel said. "To be honest, I'm not even sure which one pissed them off."
The president took aim at Kimmel during an Oct. 10 rally in Clarksville, Tennessee. In his scathing remarks, Trump reproached the TV host for saying one of his events was "sparsely attended," calling Kimmel a "loser" and "crooked."
Kimmel doubled
down on his description during his Oct. 12 show, saying, "Of all the things I said about him last week ... that's what bothers him? Me pointing out the fact that his rallies have empty seats? Well, in that case, let's do it again: There were many empty seats at the rally. So many empty seats! There were even empty seats at the rally where he complained about me saying he had empty seats at the rally."
Ingle responded to Kimmel's takedown in a statement to USA TODAY, calling the Emmy-winning comic a "no-talent loser who has beclowned himself with tanking ratings and by spewing disgusting lies to his dwindling audience."
"He is so devoid of actual talent that nobody with any commonsense would ever watch him unless it was to laugh at his miserable failures," Ingle added.
Kimmel quoted Ingle's remarks during his monologue Thursday night, this time skewering the White House rep for his appearance.
"And by the way, in case you were wondering what a person who uses the word 'beclowned' looks like, this is Davis Ingle," Kimmel said while showing a photo of Ingle on-screen. "You can see him clicking on his pen, moments before they buckled him into his booster seat on Air Force One."
Kimmel also made light of the back-and-forth, offering a new joke about White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia for Ingle's approval.
"I'm sorry you don't think I have talent, Davis. Maybe you'll like this one," Kimmel said. "What do Katie Zacharia and [Defense Secretary] Pete Hegseth have in common? Neither one of them could pass a bar."
President Trump has frequently taken issue with reports of empty seats at his events. In an Oct. 5 post on Truth Social, he maintained that "what does happen at all of my sold-out rallies is that the people in the upper sections tend to migrate down to the main floor." He added, "I never have empty seats — never have and never will!"
In another post, Trump said news outlets that detail his reported low turnout "should be arrested for their dishonesty and disservice to our country."
Contributing: Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jimmy Kimmel fires back at White House dig after Trump criticism
