Late-night comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert experienced emotional meltdowns Wednesday in their first broadcasts after President-elect Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the presidential election. Kimmel held back tears in what was clearly a difficult show for the comedian, who has devoted much airtime in recent years to bashing Trump and his supporters.
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel was visibly on the verge of crying during parts of his opening monologue.
“Let’s be honest. It was a terrible night last night,” he said, his voice shaking. “It was a terrible night for women, for children, for the hundreds of thousands of hard working immigrants who make this country go, for health care, for our climate, for science, for journalism, for justice, for free speech.”
He continued: “It was a terrible night for poor people, for the middle class, for seniors who rely on Social Security, for our allies in Ukraine, for NATO, for the truth and democracy and decency.”
Kimmel managed to pull himself together long enough to hurl insults at Trump, at one point comparing the president-elect to the emperor in the Star Wars movies.
On CBS, Stephen Colbert took an angrier approach to the election outcome.
“Well, fuck. It happened… again,” he began his monologue. “After a bizarre and vicious campaign fueled by a desperate need not to go to jail, Donald Trump has won the 2024 election.”
He later added: “As a late-night host, people often say to me, ‘Come on, part of has gotta want Trump to win, because he gives you so much material to work with.’ No, no. No one tells the guy who cleans the bathroom, ‘Wow, you must love it when someone has explosive diarrhea. There’s so much material for you to work with.’”
NBC’s Seth Meyers took a more emo approach by resurrecting Kamala Harris’ “joy.”
He opened his monologue saying it was “a privilege to be here with you, to not feel alone,” adding: “we’re not going to let anything take that joy away, even when we’re talking about things that are not particularly joyful.”
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