Late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel took aim at Vice President JD Vance for his defense of Donald Trump, who recently shared an AI-generated image portraying himself as Jesus on social media.
On Sunday, Trump posted the controversial image on Truth Social, following a derogatory remark about Pope Leo XIV, whom he labeled “WEAK” regarding crime, after the pontiff criticized the U.S. involvement in the Iran conflict. The image depicted Trump in flowing robes, performing a healing act with radiant beams emanating from his hands.
The post sparked outrage among Christians and political figures across the spectrum. By Monday, Trump had removed the image, claiming he believed it depicted him as a doctor rather than Jesus.
Vance, who embraced Catholicism in 2019, described the image as “a joke” during a Fox News interview with Bret Baier. Kimmel, however, dismissed this explanation outright.
“Trump is doing his best to upset every faction of Christianity,” Kimmel remarked on his show Tuesday. “After attacking the pope, he posts an image of himself as Jesus, and when the backlash hit, he claimed, ‘Oh I didn’t know that was Jesus; I thought that was me as a doctor healing people,’ which is so lame. Not one person believes it. It is quite clearly an image of Jesus with his dumb head on it.”
Kimmel pointed out that even Vance struggled to support this “doctor” narrative and had to concoct an entirely different story.
He then aired a clip of Vance on Fox News stating, “I think the president was posting a joke, and of course he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people weren’t understanding his humor in that case.”
Kimmel retorted: “He was posting a joke, you understand? And like all the best jokes, it had to be explained and then deleted. First, he was Jesus. Then he wasn’t Jesus; he was a doctor. And now, it was a joke.”
In a self-referential moment, Kimmel quipped: “Why did I get kicked off the air again? I can’t remember.”
This comment alluded to his show’s suspension in September due to remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot during a live debate at a Utah college.
Kimmel had stated that the MAGA community was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
ABC reinstated Jimmy Kimmel Live! the following week after the incident.
Meanwhile, Trump appeared unfazed by the backlash surrounding the Jesus image. On Wednesday, he shared another AI-generated image on Truth Social showing Jesus embracing him.
This new image features Jesus with an arm around Trump’s shoulder and one hand on his chest, both standing before a halo of light and an American flag, their heads leaning together. Trump captioned it: “The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!! President DJT.”
