Jimmy Kimmel ripped his old “Blobfish Basketball Classic” competitor Texas senator Ted Cruz Thursday for heading to Cancun as millions of Texans remained without heat and power due to blackouts caused by freezing weather in the state.
“While his fellow Texans are freezing with the power out, Ted Cruz did what any great leader would do when his state needs leadership most: He booked a flight to Mexico and said ‘Adios, amigos!’” Kimmel said at the top of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last night.
Kimmel cut to images posted on social media by Texas residents of their frozen homes and personal items that they are burning in order to keep warm.
“And where was Mr. Texas while his constituents are suffering? Well there he is on a plane,” Kimmel said, putting up a shot on screen of Cruz on a United Airlines flight. “Snake on a plane! Right there. Headed, ironically, to the very place he tried to build a wall around.”
“At first, it was hard to tell if it was Ted Cruz or just a man with a terrible medical condition called, Looking Like Ted Cruz,” the ABC late-night host said, revealing his wife, Molly, looked at that image for two hours trying to verify if it was in fact the senator. But then more pictures started circulating on social media, including one of Cruz eating a Cup O’ Noodles before the plan to Cancun took off.
“In case you were wondering if there is anything grosser than Ted Cruz, there is: Ted Cruz slurping a Cup O’Noodles,” Kimmel said.
The backlash on social media to Cruz going to Cancun was swift, with many calling out the senator for leaving his state in its time of need. And, after initially staying mum on the subject, Cruz said his family “lost heat and power too” but went on the trip because his daughters wanted to go.
“With school cancelled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon,” Cruz said in a statement Thursday.
Leaked texts from Cruz’s wife, however, point to a different story — and so do an NBC News report. Cruz booked the return leg Thursday at 6 a.m., after initially planning on a Saturday return, NBC News reported, citing a source with knowledge of the situation.
“The hypocrisy is off the charts,” Kimmel said. “This is the guy who two months ago lashed out at the mayor of Austin for going to Mexico. And [tweeted], ‘And don’t forget @MayorAdler who took a private jet with eight people to Cabo and WHILE IN CABO recorded a video telling Austinites to “stay home if you can… this is not the time to relax.’ And also mocked the governor of California when we had power outages here this summer, he wrote, ‘California is now unable to perform even the basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity.’ And who even took shots at a fellow Republican, Chris Christie, for going to the beach he closed. But why settle for just being the world’s biggest hypocrite when you could be a world-class liar, too.”
Watch Kimmel’s full monologue above.