Yes, the former host of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and “The View” will be serving as guest host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” the week of Aug. 17 while Kimmel is on vacation (as part of his summer rotation). He said he’d tapped O’Donnell for the stint as “a special treat” for Donald Trump, given the president’s 20-year-long vendetta against her for mocking his bankruptcies on “The View.” O’Donnell tells Variety that the offer “came out of the blue,” since not only have they never spoken in person, but they had what she describes as an “adversarial relationship.” “We’ve never spoken on the phone; we’ve texted a few times. Howard Stern tried to make amends with us, so we’ve been at the same parties a few times and I would talk to his wife.
But Jimmy was never a fan of mine, and it was kind of an adversarial relationship — not that I was fighting back, but I was like, ‘OK, one of the bro guys…,’” O’Donnell recalls. But that all changed when O’Donnell reached out to Kimmel following the death of his beloved Uncle Frank Potenza, a former NYPD officer who’d made a number of memorable comedy-sketch appearances on his nephew’s late-night show. So, when my publicist called and said, ‘Do you want to guest-host ‘Kimmel’ for a week?’ I said, ‘I haven’t ever even been a guest!’ And then I said, ‘If you’re positive that that’s an actual offer and he wants me to do it, then I most certainly will,’” says O’Donnell, adding, “I was surprised, to tell you the truth, and very thankful.” Another reason O’Donnell took the gig, other than having the opportunity to air out Trump to an audience of millions on ABC, is to support the late-night community amid Trump’s war on TV comedy, one that’s cost Stephen Colbert his “Late Show” and nearly claimed Kimmel as well.
As for the Colbert of it all, and Paramount Skydance owner (and Trump winer-and-diner) David Ellison’s pending takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, which includes CNN, O’Donnell didn’t hold back. Imagine if Fox was not one outlier and Fox was the mainstay?
That’s what’s happening with Hollywood now and the Ellisons, and it’s tragic,” O’Donnell says. She then pointed to Ellison and Bari Weiss’ right-wing makeover of CBS News and its crown jewel, “60 Minutes,” as an example of what’s to come if Ellison’s $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. There are people who are sidling up to him and history will record all of their names, what they did, and who they stood next to.” O’Donnell continues, “If you’re in a room with 10 Nazis at a table and you’re the only one who’s not, there’s a pretty good chance you’re a Nazi.”
Extract — continue reading at the source.
