Actor and Democrat activist George Clooney defended Jimmy Kimmel after the left-wing TV host fantasized about President Donald Trump’s death. “Jokes are jokes,” the Ocean’s 11 star said.
“Jimmy’s a comedian, and I would argue that Karoline Leavitt didn’t mean shots should be fired, right? She was making a joke. Fair enough,” Clooney told Variety at the 51st Chaplin Award Gala in New York on Monday.
Clooney was comparing Kimmel fantasizing about the president’s death to Leavitt quipping “there will be some shots fired tonight in the room” ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — “shots fired” being slang for the traditional roasting that transpires at the event.
“So, I look at that side and go, ‘Well, jokes are jokes.’ But the rhetoric, I think, is a little dangerous. And we’ve seen it a lot lately,” the Michael Clayton star added.
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Clooney was comparing Kimmel fantasizing about the president’s death to Leavitt quipping “there will be some shots fired tonight in the room” ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — “shots fired” being slang for the traditional roasting that transpires at the event.
“So, I look at that side and go, ‘Well, jokes are jokes.’ But the rhetoric, I think, is a little dangerous. And we’ve seen it a lot lately,” the Michael Clayton star added.
Kimmel is facing heavy backlash after he called the First Lady Melania Trump an “expectant widow” before a gunman attempted to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday evening.
While the left-wing TV host’s remarks came days before shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen stormed a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton Hotel with a shotgun, handgun, and knives, Kimmel’s comments notably come after President Trump survived at least two previous documented assassination attempts on his life.
After Variety noted to Clooney that it seemed like “there was an opportunity for a moment of unity between the press and the current administration” on Saturday night — before the gunfire erupted — the actor said, “I always have faith in the press.”
“I always believe in it. I’m the son of a journalist, you know?” the Up in the Air star continued. “I also think that you’re not supposed to have a good relationship with government. You’re supposed to be questioning them.”
“The people that I support — the Democrats — I’m a Democrat. I make no apologies for it. The people that I support — Bill Clinton, Barack Obama — they didn’t enjoy getting chased down by reporters,” Clooney added.
The ER star went on to say, “People in power don’t like to have to answer all the questions in the world. That’s fair. They shouldn’t enjoy it. And the reporters should make sure that they hold people’s feet to the fire. That’s the rules.”
Being questioned by reporters, however, is the least of Trump’s issues, as the president is typically “chased down” by deranged lunatics with firearms — following years of being smeared with extreme pejoratives by the establishment media, Democrats, and members of Hollywood’s elite.
Saturday evening’s the assassination attempt involving suspect Cole Tomas Allen makes for the third officially documented assassination attempt on President Trump’s life in the span of less than two years.
The first, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, when Trump was struck in the ear with a bullet after Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from a nearby rooftop — and the second, at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024, when Ryan Wesley Routh hid in the bushes, aiming a rifle through a fence, waiting for the president to come into view.
Another incident — although not officially documented as an assassination attempt — involved 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin being fatally shot by the Secret Service after he breached the secure perimeter at Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, on February 22, 2026, armed with a shotgun.
Now, supporters of First Lady Melania Trump are organizing a grassroots boycott of advertisers for ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! amid a report saying that Disney is “ready to pull” the plug following the left-wing TV host’s remarks.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.