By Asish Samson

Jimmy Kimmel, the late night T.V show host has been one of the most watched comedians in recent years. His ‘I ate all your Halloween candy” segment was one of the best comedy segments in recent years. But, Especially since 2016 Jimmy Kimmel has taken upon it himself to become America’s moral conscience. He has used every opportunity to criticise, downplay, belittle and mock Trump and his presidency. He even used his own child’s illness as an opportunity to bash Trump and his stance on healthcare.

Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong in criticising the president or his policies. It is one of the advantages of having a democracy. But shouldn’t criticism be fair and impersonal. Not so with Jimmy Kimmel. For example, in one of his episode he showed the audience a video clip of Trump getting onto Air Force One. In the clip as Trump climbs up the stairs, his hair gets disrupted by the wind and flaps about. Kimmel used this clip as if it was a comedy piece all sweetened with the fake laughter of his in-house audience. His crew even went on to record opinions from several hairstylists on what they thought about Trump’s hair! All this to turn something as mundane as hair flapping in the wind as a mockery of the President. Now, Imagine if someone gave the same treatment of Barrack Obama during his presidency. What if someone criticised Obama on his looks? Would they have got away so easy? Wouldn’t they have been hounded and called “racist” all over the mainstream media. Even Kimmel himself is no stranger to calling Obama critics ‘racists’, like in
From Trump’s inauguration to the recent Florida school shooting, Kimmel has used every opportunity to mock and criticise Trump. He even went on to record bytes from 3 to 5 year old kids and got them to mock Trump. Imagine any other comedian doing this to Obama. What would they have been called? Instead of being comedian Kimmel has become a Democratic mouthpiece whose jokes make liberals feel good about themselves and ease the pain of an election loss.

While being such a loudmouth on Trump, Jimmy Kimmel has been eerily silent on other issues. Where was Jimmy Kimmel’s moral conscience when Obama bombed more countries than George Bush? Where was it during the Fast and Furious scandal? Where was it when IRS targeted conservatives? Where was it when Obama used the NSA to spy on Americans? Where was it when the black unemployment reached the highest figures during Obama’s 8 years? Where was it during Hillary’s Email scandal? Benghazi? Was it sleeping when Obama colluded with Hezbollah to undermine his own country’s interest for Iran? Was it hiding under the stair when the Obama Administration lied to the American people about not giving any ransom while airlifting billions of dollars? Was it dead when Obama created an echo chamber in the press to cover up his failures and misdeeds?

While Kimmel has expressed outrage over Trump’s language in the leaked access Hollywood tape, he has remained suspiciously silent on the multitude of sexual harassment charges on Harvey Weinstein, his Hollywood buddy. While the entire nation expressed its disgust on Weinstein, Kimmel strictly avoided bringing up the subject. When he was finally cornered and asked his opinion, he sidestepped without answering. Doesn’t just this show his agenda? Doesn’t this make his bias glaringly obvious. Doesn’t this make him a hypocrite?

What Jimmy Kimmel would be wise to remember is that all the Hollywood bashing of Trump does nothing to turn people against Trump. It actually turns people off against Hollywood. In 2016 almost the entire Hollywood took it upon themselves to mock Trump and demean him in America’s eyes. From Robert De Niro to the Avengers, they took turns to mock Trump. And them America voted and threw celebrity opinions in the garbage where they belong. It didn’t work then. It won’t work now.