Jimmy Kimmel began his eponymous talk show Wednesday night by discussing President Donald Trump’s surprise national address.
Following a last-minute announcement, Trump addressed the country live on prime-time television to tout his accomplishments since taking office in January and blame his predecessor, Joe Biden, for the affordability issues that many Americans are facing.
The address interrupted the season finales of popular competition series Survivor and The Floor with all four broadcast networks pausing their scheduled programming to run the speech.
“Yesterday, the president announced he’d be giving an impromptu ‘liar-side’ chat tonight in the middle of the season finales of Survivor and The Floor,” Kimmel reminded viewers.
“He interrupted them. It’s weird to think that, had a couple of states just gone the other way, he’d be hosting one of those shows. Trump shouldn’t be pre-empting The Floor, he should be mopping it, OK?” the late night host joked.
Similarly, Stephen Colbert joked on The Late Show Wednesday: “It’s a really big deal for networks to just hand over their prime-time slots on such short notice, especially because here at CBS, his 9 p.m. speech cuts right into the middle of the three-hour Survivor season finale. Wait, unless that’s actually the final challenge: ‘Survivors, you’ve endured starvation, extreme heat and poisonous snakes, but for your final challenge, you must listen to a bitter old man talk about a ballroom.’”
Survivor began airing at 8 p.m. ET and paused for 22 minutes for Trump’s speech at 9 p.m. before resuming for two more hours.
On social media, Survivor fans fumed over the interruption of the season 49 finale, which saw the five remaining castaways compete for the $1 million grand prize.
“This administration finds new ways to ruin my day every time I wake up to be honest,” one person shared on Reddit.
“F***ing Trump, man. You gotta be kidding. Of all nights to do this!” another fumed.
“I watch Survivor to forget about this baboon, now he's going to insert himself into my 1.5 hour of escapism?' asked a third.
Speaking from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Trump opened his speech by claiming to have “inherited a mess” that he was now “fixing.”
He also unveiled a “warrior dividend” for more than 1.45 million service members, stating that each would receive $1,776, which he claimed would be partially funded by his tariffs.
The Independent’s White House correspondent, Andrew Feinberg, reported: “What followed was a partisan rant indistinguishable from the signature rallies that have been the centerpiece of his political movement, in which he rattled off a list of grievances while blaming his predecessor for the state of the country nearly a full year after he took the oath of office.
“Shouting into his microphone, Trump falsely claimed inflation was ‘the worst in 48 years’ when he took office but quickly shifted to boasting of his administration’s efforts to shut down illegal immigration and remove rights for transgender people.”
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