Rosie O’Donnell found an especially fitting place to revive her decades-long feud with President Donald Trump.
The comedian is preparing to guest-host Jimmy Kimmel Live! for four nights beginning August 17, temporarily taking over a show Trump publicly celebrated seeing suspended and repeatedly suggested should disappear from television.
Highlights
- Rosie O’Donnell said ABC would not allow her to perform an anti-Trump parody during her upcoming four-night guest-hosting run on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
- The comedian revealed the prohibited lyrics elsewhere, mocking Trump on a wide variety of fronts.
- O’Donnell stressed that Jimmy Kimmel had nothing to do with the restriction.
O’Donnell had already written the centerpiece of her appearance: a parody of If I Only Had a Brain from The Wizard of Oz, rewritten as a musical attack on the president’s intelligence, appearance, approval ratings, relationship with Vladimir Putin, and behavior during public events.
There was one problem.
According to O’Donnell, ABC would not allow her to perform it.
O’Donnell said ABC banned her from performing a parody song against Donald Trump
Rather than discard the routine, she took it somewhere the network could not stop her. During an August 3 appearance on On with Kara Swisher, O’Donnell sang part of the material herself and revealed some of the crude jokes that reportedly made the number unsuitable for late-night television.
O’Donnell said she had already performed the song as part of her one-woman stage production, Common Knowledge, and hoped to bring it with her when she took control of Kimmel’s desk.
The parody used the melody of the Scarecrow’s famous song while portraying Trump as unintelligent, dishonest, exhausted, and obsessed with power.
“I have been told I’m not allowed to do that,” she told Swisher.
O’Donnell said she was informed that permission could not be obtained because her rewrite contained political material.
Reports described the problem as a licensing issue involving the politically charged new lyrics, rather than a direct order from Kimmel. ABC has not publicly provided a detailed account of the decision.
The explanation immediately struck Swisher as unusual.
O’Donnell appeared equally unconvinced, particularly because parody has long been a central part of political comedy. Still, she made clear that she did not blame Kimmel for the restriction.
The comedian instead praised him as “brave and bold” for continuing to challenge Trump through comedy and said she wanted to honor the work he had been doing.
Once she was safely outside an ABC studio, O’Donnell gave Swisher’s audience a preview
The song joked that Trump’s approval rating had fallen to 30 percent and claimed his “diaper’s always dirty.” Another punchline mocked his anatomy before concluding that he “doesn’t have a brain.”
The anatomy reference was a joke rather than a substantiated revelation, while the approval figure formed part of the comic performance rather than a carefully sourced polling analysis.
O’Donnell’s extended version also took aim at the condition of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusations that he uses public office for personal enrichment, and online observations that he sometimes appears tired during meetings.
She ended by contrasting him unfavorably with former President Barack Obama.
The routine had already attracted significant attention after she posted a version on TikTok in late July.
O’Donnell said the response had been tremendous, though critics argued that the insults were childish and distracted from more serious concerns about Trump’s administration.
O’Donnell said she began writing the parody after watching the July 24 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner
The event had originally been interrupted in April and was later held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C.
Trump began his speech with relatively light jokes before moving into personal attacks against journalists, Democrats, and public figures who had criticized him. Rosie O’Donnell was among the familiar targets he returned to during the hour-long address.
According to reports cited in the material surrounding the parody, Trump called O’Donnell “desperate,” portrayed her as one of the greatest sufferers of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” and joked that she had wanted to attend but that nobody wanted her back.
O’Donnell watched the speech and decided to respond through the language of a classic Hollywood musical.
“I wrote this little song,” she said when introducing the TikTok performance, describing it sarcastically as a dedication to the country’s “loving president.”
ABC’s refusal to clear the number has now given it a larger audience than it might have received during a single late-night segment.
O’Donnell said Kimmel had nothing to do with the restriction
O’Donnell was careful to separate ABC’s decision from Kimmel, particularly given the political pressure the host has already faced.
Kimmel announced her as part of his summer guest-host rotation in June, joking that he would be away for two months “voluntarily.” He introduced O’Donnell as one of Trump’s favorite people and suggested her booking was a special gift to the president.
Her four-night run will also mark her first appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in any capacity.
O’Donnell said she was thrilled to receive an entire week and planned to work with Kimmel’s writing staff rather than simply importing material from her stage show.
She also appeared unconcerned about how the Federal Communications Commission or Trump’s administration might respond to her monologues.
That confidence comes while ABC remains involved in an increasingly serious dispute with the FCC. The network has accused the agency of politically motivated retaliation as it reviews station licenses and examines programming disliked by Trump and his allies.
The feud between Trump and O’Donnell began with a Miss USA controversy in 2006
Trump and O’Donnell have been attacking each other publicly for almost 20 years.
The conflict began in December 2006, when O’Donnell was a presenter on The View. During a discussion about Miss USA Tara Conner, she criticized Trump for positioning himself as a moral authority while deciding whether Conner should retain her title following allegations involving drinking and substance use.
Trump retaliated almost immediately. He called O’Donnell a loser and a “woman out of control,” threatened to sue her, and began a pattern of personal attacks that continued through interviews, television appearances, political rallies, and social media.
The feud followed Trump into politics.
During a 2015 Republican presidential debate, Megyn Kelly asked him about insulting women with terms such as “fat pigs,” “dogs,” and “slobs.”
“Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Trump replied.
"Good job, Rosie." Fans of the comedian took to social media to congratulate her
