Upon his return from paternity leave caring for newborn son Billy, Jimmy Kimmel had a lot to say Monday night — and not all of it was nice.
Along with calling out critics in the media who had dubbed him “an out of touch Hollywood elitist creep,” the ABC late-night host targeted Newt Gingrich for criticizing his healthcare plea in the wake of his son’s emergency heart surgery.
“There are some very sick and sad people out there,” Kimmel said. “Here’s one of them — his name is Newt Gingrich. He’s the former Speaker of the House.”
Gingrich had previously criticized Kimmel’s tearful monologue last week, calling it “part of the mythology of the left. “The problem you have with humor in America today is that Hollywood is so enraged with Donald Trump that they can’t be funny, all they have is pure anger,” he said on Fox News Sunday. “Then they think it must be funny because they’re called comedians.”
Needless to say, Kimmel wasn’t laughing in his response. “Yes, it is true that, if you have an emergency, they will do an operation, and that’s terrific if your baby’s health problems are all solved during that one visit — the only problem is, that never, ever happens,” he said.
“We’ve had a dozen doctor’s appointments since our son had surgery,” Kimmel continued. “You have a cardiologist, a pediatrician, the surgeons, some kids need an ambulance to transport them — and that doesn’t even count parents who have to miss work for all this stuff.
“Those details, Newt forgot to mention. I don’t know if the double layers of Spanx are restricting the blood flow to his brain,” he quipped.
“And not only is Newt Gingrich an expert on sick babies — it turns out he also knows a thing or two about the late-night comedy business,” the Oscars host went on to say.”OK, yes, please tell us the problem we have with humor in America today … Gee, I wonder why we’re so angry,” Kimmel marveled, “Maybe it has something to do with … I don’t know, you?!?”
“Listen, Newt Gingrich knows a lot about comedy. This is the guy who helped lead the impeachment effort against Bill Clinton for trying to cover up his affair — while he was having an affair!” he said.
Ouch …
“There’s a reason he is named after a lizard, and that was it,” Kimmel concluded.