“Buckle up, people!” Rosie O’Donnell immediately set the tone for her first monologue as guest host on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday.
The comedian, who is filling in for vacationing host Jimmy Kimmel, reflected back on her stint from 1996-2002 on her own talk show, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, in her first monologue of the week. Saying she hasn’t sat behind a TV desk in more than 30 years, she sarcastically noted that “a lot has changed since the 90s. “Well back then, there was a war in the Middle East, climate change was ravaging our planet, we had a president who was embroiled in scandals. But today, everything is so chill,” she deadpanned.
“I’ve been living in Ireland for the past two years because of Mango Mussolini,” O’Donnell said of her recent move in a reference to, of course, Donald Trump. “I read that Project 2025 and said, ‘Gotta get myself out of here.’ And I decided to go to Ireland, a place where people are driven to drink regardless of who’s running their country.”
She explained she took her then-11-year-old child Clay with her, urging the child, “Whatever you do, don’t tell anyone because we don’t want a lot of press and a lot of paparazzi, so “please don’t tell anyone,” but they proceeded to go to school and “tell their entire class.” “‘I’m very sorry, I won’t be able to graduate sixth grade with you. I’m being forced to move to another country because the president of the United States hates my mother,’” O’Donnell said, impersonating Clay. “‘But in all fairness, I believe my mother hates him more.’”
She then faced the camera, smiled and waved with a special message to Trump: “Hi, I know you’re watching!”
O’Donnell, who’s had a longstanding public feud with POTUS, mentioned earlier this month that she wasn’t concerned about Brendan Carr and the FCC and being censored on the show.
“What are they gonna say, that you can’t say that?” O’Donnell asked of the FCC on the On with Kara Swisher podcast. “I don’t listen to them. I don’t pay any heed to them.
O’Donnell’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! came just hours before ABC filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the FCC, claiming that its investigations and regulatory actions are part of a Trump administration “retaliatory campaign” to curb the network’s free speech.
You can watch O’Donnell’s monologue in full below:
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