Jimmy Kimmel obtained Italian citizenship in response to Trump's ‘unbelievable' re-election
Speaking on The Sarah Silverman Podcast, the US late night host confirmed the news. Italian news agency Ansa confirmed that Kimmel had obtained Italian citizenship earlier this year after proving his ancestral lineage.
'A lot of people I know are thinking about, where are they going to get citizenship?' Silverman said, of the wider exodus in response to Trump's re-election.
'I did get Italian citizenship,' Kimmel said. 'What's going on is as bad as you thought it was gonna be. It's so much worse – it's just unbelievable. I feel like it's probably even worse than he would like it to be.'
In June, Kimmel spoke of his heritage at an Italian Republic Day event in Los Angeles, telling the audience that his grandfather's parents moved to New York from Ischia, an island off the coast of Naples, after an earthquake in 1883 killed most of their family.
'I have just obtained citizenship, thanks to my beloved grandmother Edith, whose family came from Candida, in the province of Avellino. She used to repeat to me, 'You have the brain of a hamster!'' he reportedly told the audience.
Rosie O'Donnell moved to Ireland in January, while Ellen DeGeneres recently confirmed she and her wife, the actor Portia de Rossi, decided to relocate to the UK after Trump's election last year.
'It's clean,' DeGeneres said, of the UK. 'Everything here is just better – the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here.'
She also expressed concern for the future of LGBTQ+ rights in the US, hinting that she and De Rossi may get married again in the UK due to the possibility that same-sex marriage could be overturned in the US.
Kimmel is among a cohort of late night hosts, including John Oliver, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who regularly use their shows as a platform to criticise the Trump administration. In May, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was controversially axed by CBS, not long after he criticised the network's decision to settle a $16m lawsuit with Trump on-air.
CBS has denied it was a politically motivated decision, but Trump did not disguise his pleasure at the news, writing on social media: 'I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!'
A few days later, he wrote: 'The word is, and it's a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, [Jimmy] Fallon will be gone.'
Speaking on Silverman's show, Kimmel said former Trump supporters who found themselves in opposition to his agenda in office should be supported.
'Now you see these clips of Joe Rogan saying, 'Why is he doing this? Why are you deporting people?' And people go, 'Fuck you! You supported him.' I don't buy into that,' Kimmel said.
'The door has to stay open. If you want to change your mind, that's so hard to do. If you want to admit you were wrong, that is so hard and so rare to do. You are welcome.'
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