Jimmy Kimmel Fires Back at Trump’s ‘Loser’ Jab: ‘So Many Empty Seats’

Jimmy Kimmel answered President Donald Trump’s “loser” jab on Monday night by doing exactly what Trump complained about: he talked about empty seats at Trump rallies again. In his Oct. 12 “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” monologue, the host replayed the president’s comments and fired back, according to Rolling Stone and TheWrap.

What Trump said about Jimmy Kimmel

TheWrap reports Trump made the remarks at a Saturday rally in Clarksville, Tenn. “This loser, Jimmy Kimmel. What a loser,” Trump told the crowd, adding that the venue was “packed” and that thousands of people could not get in. “These guys are crooked people. They’re losers,” he said, per both outlets. Trump was reacting to Kimmel’s earlier comments about a “sparsely attended” rally.

Kimmel’s answer

“Do I really sound like that? Be honest,” Kimmel said on air, then added: “Of all the things I said about him last week … that’s what bothers him? Me pointing out the fact that his rallies have empty seats? Well, in that case, let’s do it again. There were many empty seats at the rally. So many empty seats.”

He then joked that there were empty seats at the very rally where Trump complained about the empty seats. On Trump’s claim that people move toward the front, Kimmel quipped that it “never happens at a Lakers game,” but does at an event “controlled by the United States Secret Service,” Rolling Stone reports. The show also cut to a photo of a half-empty rally in Alabama.

TheWrap notes a White House representative did not immediately respond to its request for comment. TheWrap adds that last week Trump posted on Truth Social that an Ohio arena was “full to the brim” and that outlets reporting empty seats were dishonest.

A long-running feud

The two have traded barbs for years. At the 2024 Oscars, Kimmel read one of Trump’s Truth Social posts on stage, and Trump later called him a “dope,” Rolling Stone says. Kimmel told the outlet last year he now sees his show as “a place to scream.”

For more TV news, see our reports on Dan Levy’s reaction to the Shane Gillis SNL monologue and the Chuck Lorre memoir.

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Sources: Rolling Stone, TheWrap. Published Oct. 13, 2026. The featured image is an editorial cartoon, not a photograph.