This week, Donald Trump went to a performance of “Les Misérables” at the Kennedy Center — an event in which many roles were performed by understudies because some of the main boycotted, and audience members specifically booed Trump. (You can probably guess why.)
Jimmy Kimmel was amused that Trump went to see the musical, especially because it advances values that are essentially the opposite of Trump’s. But before he went there, Kimmel started his monologue on Thursday by talking about the situation in Los Angeles.
“We are coming to you from the post-apocalyptic hellscape of Los Angeles. Somehow, we managed to survive another night. Wow. Give yourselves a round of applause,” Kimmel joked, referring to the highly exaggerated and often just straight up lies account of the situation in Los Angeles amid the ICE protests.
‘I mean, you were able to dodge the pipe bombs and the hand grenades to get in here? It’s like ‘Grand Theft Auto’ meets ‘The Walking Dead’ out there, you know?
The LA Philharmonic and the Mark Taper Forum had to cancel their shows tonight and this week because there’s a curfew in effect downtown,” Kimmel explained. “But there was no curfew in Washington last night, where it was opening night for the new and MAGA-friendly Kennedy Center, led by Donald Trump, their self-appointed chairman of the board.”
The President was in attendance to see one of his favorite musicals, ‘Les Misérables,’” Kimmel explained. “Now, ‘Les Misérables’ is, have you seen ‘Les Misérables’ Guillermo?” Kimmel asked, addressing his in-show sidekick. “It’s a musical largely about a revolution. It’s the people standing up against their King.”
“The rebellion happens in act two. Or, I should say, it usually happens in act two. After act one, last night Trump called in the National Guard and squashed the whole thing,” Kimmel joked, referring to what Trump is doing to Los Angeles.
“I have to say, Trump going to see ‘Les Misérables’ right now, is like Kanye going to ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ It’s like Diddy going to see ‘Grease’ right now,” Kimmel quipped. “Usually when Trump watches a staged rebellion, it’s Fox News coverage of the ‘riots’ here in LA.”
Kimmel then noted some of the Trump administration figures who attended. This included Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the anti-vaccines Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan. Or as Kimmel put it, “the Tony Awards for people who want to take away the rights of everyone at the Tony Awards.”
Watch the whole monologue below: