When Jimmy Kimmel announced that Rosie O’Donnell would be filling in as a week-long guest host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” during his summer vacation, he teased it would be “a special treat” for Donald Trump, who’s harbored a 20-year-long vendetta against the comic for her mocking his bankruptcies on “The View” back in 2006.
O’Donnell told Variety she was “surprised” by the guest-hosting offer from Kimmel, given the pair’s “adversarial relationship” and the fact that she’d never even been asked on as a guest, but she was “thankful” and accepted nevertheless, owing in large part to her support of Kimmel during Trump’s relentless campaign to get his late-night show canceled over jokes he didn’t like.
“I support [Kimmel] in what he’s doing with the First Amendment, and our ability as entertainers and citizens to speak out against our government that’s enshrined in the Founding Fathers’ writings about our government, so I think he’s fantastic,” O’Donnell said. “And I wish that Stephen Colbert had the same kind of support when it happened to him, because he shouldn’t be gone either.”
On Monday night, O’Donnell kicked off her “Jimmy Kimmel Live” hosting duties by strutting out onstage in a bright pink suit adorned with flowers — to lengthy applause and chants of “RO-SIE! RO-SIE!” — before declaring, “If you thought the president hated ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ when it was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel? Buckle up, people! Buckle up.”
The former host of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and “The View” continued taking shots at her thin-skinned nemesis during her monologue, joking, “I’ve been living in Ireland for the past two years because of ‘Mango Mussolini.’ I read that Project 2025 and said, ‘Gotta get myself out of here!’ and I decided to go to Ireland where people are driven to drink regardless of who’s running their country.”
At one point during her monologue, she turned to the camera and addressed Trump, saying, “Hi! I know you’re watching!”
O’Donnell seemed cool and collected at the helm of a late-night show after decades away from TV hosting, regaling the audience with jokes about her time living in Ireland, including the disarming kindness of strangers (compared to New York City), their enthusiastic drinking and trying to ask out her (straight) pharmacist, and getting along famously with her guests, including “Ted Lasso” star Hannah Waddingham, who announced herself as a huge Rosie fan (“I can’t believe I’m talking to Rosie O’Donnell… I’m losing my mind!” she exclaimed), and “Schmigadoon!’s” Ana Gasteyer.
Between guests, O’Donnell choked up while giving a moving tribute to the late Hayden Panettiere, who tragically passed away on Sunday at the age of 36. Panettiere had been a favorite guest of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” as a child actress.
“I’m just heartbroken over the passing of Hayden Panettiere last night. She was on my show many times as a little girl, and I got to know her as a grown woman,” offered O’Donnell. “And she was so brave talking about mental health before people were really ready to hear about it, and very sad. My love to her family and friends, and she will be missed. Godspeed, Hayden.”
Overall, O’Donnell seemed to acquit herself well as a late-night host. Cue the angry Trump posts.