Jimmy Kimmel joked that Rudy Giuliani had risen "from the grave" on his late-night show. Five days later, the 81-year-old former New York City mayor was hospitalized in critical condition.
The timing has added fresh fuel to a growing backlash against the ABC host, who was already facing calls for his firing over a separate joke about First Lady Melania Trump. A spokesperson for Giuliani confirmed the hospitalization in a statement asking the public to pray for "America's mayor," though the specific ailment was not disclosed.
The sequence of events is hard to ignore. On his Tuesday monologue, Kimmel played a clip of Giuliani criticizing him on a podcast and responded with a string of personal shots at the two-term mayor. By Sunday, Giuliani was in a hospital bed. By Monday, the clip was circulating again, and landing very differently.
The exchange began when Giuliani, on his podcast, called Kimmel "one of the most distasteful human beings in this country." Giuliani also labeled the 58-year-old comedian "an incompetent jacka," mocking what he described as a poorly watched turn hosting the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Kimmel fired back on air. As the New York Post reported, the host opened with a line that now reads as something worse than a bad joke:
"So last night, America's mayor, Rudy Giuliani, rose from the grave to weigh in on the ongoing drama involving me."
Kimmel didn't stop there. He mocked Giuliani's appearance, referenced the infamous Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference, and took a shot at Giuliani's encounter with Sacha Baron Cohen's "Borat" crew:
"I have to say, it hurts to be called distasteful by a man who farted his own pants off in front of Borat's daughter."
He also said it was "confusing to be called an incompetent jacka, by a man who accidentally held a press conference outside a dildo store." Then came the closer: "Does this man have any family members who can come get him already?"
Kimmel repeated the Giuliani material during Monday night's program. Within days, the joke's shelf life expired.
On Sunday, a spokesperson released a statement confirming the former mayor's condition:
"Mayor Rudy Giuliani is currently in the hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition."
The statement continued with a direct appeal:
"Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he's fighting with that same level of strength as we speak. We do ask that you join us in prayer for America's mayor, Rudy Giuliani."
No details about the ailment, the hospital, or the city were provided. But the contrast between Kimmel's "rose from the grave" crack and the reality of an 81-year-old man in critical condition was immediate, and Just The News noted the clip resurfaced quickly online.
As Fox News reported, political strategist Ted Goodman wrote that Giuliani "remains in critical but stable condition," and the Giuliani joke was tied directly to the broader backlash Kimmel was already weathering over his Melania Trump remarks.
The Giuliani episode did not happen in a vacuum. It arrived on the heels of another Kimmel controversy, one that had already drawn fire from the White House itself.
Days before a gunman targeted President Trump and members of his administration at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night, Kimmel had joked about Melania Trump being an "expectant widow." The remark drew swift condemnation. On Monday, the first lady demanded Kimmel's ouster in a social media post. President Trump himself called on ABC to fire the host after the remark surfaced.
By Tuesday, Melania Trump's spokesman Marc Beckman doubled down. His message was blunt:
"Kimmel should be terminated. ABC should fire him now."
The pressure on ABC has extended beyond statements. Supporters of the first lady have launched an advertiser boycott of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" as Disney, ABC's parent company, weighs the host's future.
The fallout has also cost Kimmel guests. Mentalist Oz Pearlman pulled out of an appearance on the show following the shooting incident and the "widow" remark, a visible sign that the controversy is affecting more than just ratings and social media chatter.
Two ill-timed jokes in the span of a single week present a problem that goes beyond bad luck. Kimmel joked about the first lady becoming a widow, and then a gunman showed up at the dinner. He joked about Giuliani rising from the grave, and the former mayor landed in critical condition.
Neither event was caused by Kimmel's words. That is obvious. But the pattern raises a fair question about judgment, specifically, the judgment of a host who has spent years positioning himself as a political commentator rather than a traditional comedian.
When you spend your monologue mocking political opponents by name, night after night, the line between comedy and cruelty gets thinner. And when reality intervenes, a shooting, a hospitalization, the audience is left to wonder whether the joke was ever really a joke at all, or just contempt dressed up with a laugh track.
The political dimension makes it harder to dismiss. Kimmel's targets are not random. They are consistently figures on the right, a former Trump attorney, the sitting first lady. His defenders will say that's comedy. His critics will say it's activism with a studio audience. The distinction matters less when an 81-year-old man is in a hospital bed days after you told millions of viewers he crawled out of a grave.
The broader regulatory and political dispute around ABC and Kimmel has drawn attention from lawmakers as well. Senator Ted Cruz broke with the Trump administration over FCC pressure on the network, warning that the government must not become "speech police", a reminder that the debate over Kimmel's conduct has opened fault lines even within the right.
ABC has not publicly responded to the latest round of calls for Kimmel's firing. The network faces a decision that is equal parts business and politics. Kimmel's contract, his ratings, his advertiser base, and the political environment all factor in.
For now, Giuliani remains hospitalized. His spokesperson asked for prayers. His condition is critical but stable. The details of his illness remain unknown.
Kimmel, for his part, has shown no sign of backing down. He responded to Giuliani's podcast criticism with mockery. He responded to the Melania Trump backlash by repeating his material. Whether ABC's leadership shares his confidence is another matter entirely.
There's a difference between punching up and punching down. When the target is an 81-year-old man fighting for his health, and the comedian just told America he rose from the grave, most people don't need a network executive to tell them which one it was.
