Jimmy Kimmel has fully embraced his self-identified role as the Leader of the Late Night #Resistance — a role which recently prompted him to invite on a porn star to show the audience the size of Donald Trump’s “carrot” and play with puppets. Over the weekend, Kimmel explained to some former Obama staffers of “Pod Save America” that the reason that late-night hosts like himself are all liberal is because it “requires a level of intelligence,” thus clearly broadcasting to all would-be conservative viewers that he has a very lowly opinion of them indeed.
Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro took to Twitter to respond to Kimmel’s conservative bashing comment: .
Shapiro followed up the response by pointing out on The Daily Wire that Kimmel’s line of reasoning “does raise a few questions“:
First, all of the late night hosts are straight white males. Presumably, Kimmel doesn’t think that the requirement for intelligence excludes those who are non-straight, non-white, and non-male. Also, the dean of late night hosts is Jay Leno, a Republican; does that mean he’s dumb? If so, Kimmel will have to explain how Leno dominated late night for so many years.
Finally, when one thinks of positions that require serious intelligence, late night host usually doesn’t make the list. Kimmel literally reads lines written for him by others; his intellectual credentials stretch all the way back to being a sidekick on “Kevin and Bean” on KROQ in Los Angeles, followed by a stretch as host of “The Man Show” — alongside Kimmel’s longtime friend, libertarian Adam Carolla. Presumably, Kimmel does not think Carolla is a dummy. And presumably, Kimmel wouldn’t find his antics on that show indicative of higher intelligence requiring a particular political viewpoint.
As for some examples of Kimmel’s “level of intelligence” at work, here are two strong candidates. First, his #MeToo moment that recently came back to haunt him:
And then there’s Kimmel’s anti-Trump porn star stunt, which he scheduled to follow right after Trump’s widely-praised State of the Union address last week. Here’s intellectual superiority at work, or something: