On Wednesday night, Jimmy Kimmel went after Ron DeSantis during his opening monologue. While discussing Florida’s recently expanded Don’t Say Gay bill, the late-night host blasted the governor for attempting to one-up Donald Trump.
“The good news is that that there are apparently schools in Florida. The bad news is that the Florida Board of Education, which is almost an oxymoron — moron part, for sure, and probably some oxy in there too,” Kimmel said. “Under these expanded laws, teachers will no longer be able to discuss gender or sexual orientation with their students, not even 12th grade students.”
“This is what Ron DeSantis has been pushing as he tries to prove he’s more ridiculous than Donald Trump,” Kimmel added.
The late-night host then went on to talk about Kent Stermon, a man he described as “one of DeSantis’ biggest donors and closest friends.” Back in December 2022, Stermon died by suicide. But in the wake of his death new accusations have emerged that Stermon allegedly tried to bribe an underage girl with Taylor Swift tickets in exchange for nude photos.
“Anyway, that’s who Governor Meatball appointed to make decisions about public education in his state,” Kimmel said. “But if you have two gay parents, please do not mention it aloud.”
DeSantis wasn’t the only target Kimmel went after during his opening monologue. He also had some choice words about Fox News. For weeks, the media organization has been embroiled in an intense legal battle with Dominion Voting Systems, which hinges on the claims Fox hosts made that these voting machines changed Trump votes to support Biden during the 2020 election. Earlier this week, it was announced that a settlement had been reached to the tune of $787.5 million.
Kimmel started his monologue by wondering how exactly Fox has been covering its own defamation case. The late-night host shared a screenshot of Fox News’ homepage from 7:30 a.m. — a day after Fox had agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million. The top stories covered everything from a parking garage collapse and New York to a youth wrestler who sucker-punched his opponent. Missing from these write-ups? Any mention of Fox News’ recent legal woes.
“Nothing about the huge payment for lying to their viewers,” Kimmel said before reading through some more stories. “What an oversight that is! Man oh man is Rupert Murdoch gonna be mad when he finds out about this.”
Watch Kimmel take down DeSantis and Fox News during the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” monologue above.