NEWSJimmy Fallon’s Knicks Jokes Turn Rare Donald Trump Dunk Into the Story
Jimmy Fallon mocked Donald Trump’s NBA Finals appearance.
June 13 2026, Published 5:34 a.m. ET
Jimmy Fallon does not usually make himself the loudest Trump critic in late night, which is why his June 8 Knicks jokes hit differently.
After President Donald Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, Fallon used The Tonight Show to take a rare extended run at the president, joking about Trump’s appearance, the tightened security around the arena and the boos that greeted him in New York.
Jimmy Fallon Takes the Shot
Jimmy Fallon joked about security measures at MSG.
Fallon opened by noting the Knicks’ 13-game win streak before losing Game 3, then quickly turned to Trump.
“It was so exciting, not even Trump could sleep through it,” Fallon said, before showing an image of Trump appearing to doze off in a chair.
“Meanwhile, because Trump went to the game, the watch party outside of the arena was canceled,” Fallon said. “And fans had to arrive two hours early to get through security. It’s like Trump asked himself: ‘How could I get my approval rating down to zero?’”
He kept going, adding, “Among New Yorkers, Trump is polling somewhere between slow-walking tourists and mysterious subway liquid.”
The Least Political Host Goes There
The late-night host delivered rare political punchlines.
“Scarcity creates value in comedy the same way it creates value in everything else. When the host who never goes there goes there, every clip gets shared,” said Amore Philip, founder of Apples and Oranges Public Relations.
“Fallon has spent years carefully positioning himself as the least political host in late night. That is not an accident. It is a brand strategy built around maximum advertiser safety and maximum audience breadth. He does impressions. He plays games. He celebrates celebrities. He does not pick political fights,” she explained.
“When he devotes multiple nights to roasting Trump's NBA Finals appearance, calling him Sleepy Don, doing a fake interview with edited clips, running every NBA team name as a political punchline, the cultural signal is enormous,” she added. “It is the equivalent of Switzerland declaring war.”
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The Joke Was the Pivot
Analysts called the jokes a notable brand shift.
Trump attended the game as a guest of Knicks owner James Dolan, a longtime friend and donor who has himself run afoul of fans.
”From an advertiser and network standpoint, Fallon has increasingly been taking more overt digs at Trump, which suggests NBC and his team have made a calculated decision that the reputational upside of cultural relevance now outweighs the risk of alienating a portion of the audience,” Philip noted.
Donald Trump’s attendance became comedy material across television.
“That is a significant brand pivot and the NBA Finals gave him the perfect cover to make it,” she added. “It is a sports story first. The political commentary is the passenger.”
