Jimmy Kimmel voiced his support for the U.S. women’s hockey team after they declined President Donald Trump’s reluctant invitation to his State of the Union address.
The comedian weighed in on the athletes’ snub during Monday night’s monologue for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” where he ripped into Trump for his odd phone call with the U.S. men’s hockey team following their gold medal win at the Olympics.
“So Trump dials in after the game, Kash [Patel] has got him on his phone to glom onto the glory,” Kimmel said, “and invite the men’s team and begrudgingly the gold medal winning women’s team, who also won in overtime, to his State of the Union tomorrow.”
After playing a snippet of the phone call, in which Trump said he had to invite the female athletes or risk being “impeached,” Kimmel blasted the president as a “creep,” but made sure to also shout out the women’s team for their response to the drama.
“The women’s hockey team, by the way, immediately refused the invitation,” he continued. “I mean, can you blame them? The last time Trump invited a woman with a medal to the White House, he made her give it to him.”
Kimmel, of course, was referring to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who gifted Trump her Nobel Peace Prize after the arrest of Nicolás Maduro.
Though, as Kimmel highlighted, the women’s team took the high road, noting in a statement: “We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal winning U.S. women’s hockey team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement. Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgement.”
Yet, as Kimmel noted, that was seemingly “a nice way of saying, ‘Puck off, Trump. We’ve got better things to do.’”
Watch Kimmel’s full monologue above.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
