On Friday morning, after blowback erupted from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel playing a deceptively-edited video in order to attack Vice-President Mike Pence, Kimmel offered a snide apology on Twitter, writing, “it would appear that @vp was joking about carrying empty boxes for a staged publicity stunt. The full video reveals that he was carrying full boxes for a staged publicity stunt. My apologies. I know how dearly this administration values truth.”
On Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel ripped Pence, asserting that a video showing Pence carrying empty boxes to a rehabilitation and healthcare center was an attempt by Pence to “pretend,” adding that it was “the perfect metaphor for who he is and what he’s doing. A big box of nothin’ delivering another box of nothin’.”
One problem: the video had been deceptively edited, as the complete video shows Pence at the Woodbine Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Alexandria, Virginia, delivering boxes full of personal protective equipment (PPE) from FEMA.
Kimmel stated:
Here he is, with no mask on, wheeling boxes of PPEs into a health care center and doing his best to lift them. What a hero. (laughing) Just barely in the door. And since it was going so well, and also because he didn’t realize he had a mic on, Magic Mike decided to keep it going. Listen in closely here:
The video shows someone saying, “Those are empty, sir. We’re good to go.” Pence responds, “Well, can I carry the empty ones? Just for the camera?” Someone answers, “Absolutely.”
Kimmel continued, “Mike Pence pretending to carry empty boxes of PPEs into a hospital is the perfect metaphor for who he is and what he’s doing. A big box of nothin’ delivering another box of nothin’.”
Mike Pence caught on hot mic delivering empty boxes of PPE for a PR stunt. pic.twitter.com/IduvGhiPwj
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 8, 2020
Here’s the complete video:
Kimmel has targeted Pence before; in March 2018 he tweeted, “That’s not the point. We don’t make films like Call Me By Your Name for money. We make them to upset Mike Pence.”
.@jimmykimmel: "We don't make films like 'Call Me By Your Name' for money. We make them to upset Mike Pence." https://t.co/E1lLYXTlWg #Oscars pic.twitter.com/uSbTVYZ1Ll
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 5, 2018
Kimmel routinely takes shots at figures within the Trump administration; in December 2018, referencing reports that one of the leading candidates to replace Gen. John Kelly as Trump’s chief of staff was none other then Trump’s son-in-law and key adviser Jared Kushner, Kimmel decided to work in a sexual reference to his wife, Ivanka, saying,”I guess the thinking of [Trump] is: if he’s good enough to screw my daughter, he’s good enough to screw the country.”
In August 2019, Kimmel went on a rant in which he branded Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell an “evil soulless odd creep,” called Republicans “cowardly” for refusing to appear on left-wing cable news shows after the mass shootings over the weekend, and finished with a flourish, referring to Trump supporters as people who have been “repeatedly punched in the head” and calling President Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric the “Douches of Hazzard” for being fans of MMA fighter Colby Covington.
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