NEWSJimmy Kimmel Signals Support for Jelly Roll After Guest-Host Backlash
Jimmy Kimmel appeared to support Jelly Roll after the singer faced backlash over his Donald Trump jokes.
Sept. 13 2026, Published 7:19 a.m. ET
Jimmy Kimmel appears to be standing by Jelly Roll after the singer’s summer turn behind the Jimmy Kimmel Live! desk turned into a political flashpoint.
Jimmy Kimmel included a fishing photo with Jelly Roll in his summer photo dump.
Kimmel returned to Instagram on September 8 with a “Summer photos dumped... Back to work” post that included a smiling fishing selfie with Jelly Roll at the host’s Montana ranch. The photo landed after Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord, faced backlash from Trump supporters over jokes he made while guest-hosting the ABC late-night show in August.
A Fishing Photo After the Firestorm
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Jelly Roll faced criticism after joking about Donald Trump while guest-hosting the show.
Jelly Roll filled in as one of Kimmel’s guest hosts during the summer, joining a lineup that included Tiffany Haddish, Rosie O’Donnell, and others while Kimmel was away.
During his week on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the 41-year-old country star made several jokes about Trump, including a fat joke tied to his own 300-pound weight loss. Some conservative fans were furious after previously assuming Jelly Roll shared their politics.
The backlash extended beyond social media. Jelly Roll was uninvited from a Mar-a-Lago event hosted by the conservative group Blue Lives Matter, which declared that he was “FIRED.”
Jelly Roll Explains Himself
The country star defended his political independence amid the controversy.
Jelly Roll addressed the controversy on the show, saying people had projected political identities onto him from both directions.
“It is funny that before this week, everybody thought I was MAGA, and now they think I’m some sort of liberal snowflake,” he said.
“A lot of people seem to think these Jimmy Kimmel writers have secretly been pulling the strings and forcing this good old country boy to poke fun at our commander-in-chief,” he added.
The singer said he considers himself “pretty down the middle” politically and told viewers any president should be able to handle jokes.
A Handshake and a Joke
Jelly Roll later emphasized that a handshake with Donald Trump did not equal an endorsement.
Jelly Roll also revisited speculation about his politics that followed his 2024 handshake with Trump at a UFC fight at Madison Square Garden.
“I’m proud that I was able to shake the president of the United States’ hand,” he said. “I’m also proud that I live in a country where I can make jokes about him.”
He later put the same point more simply in an Instagram tribute to Kimmel.
“A handshake ain’t an endorsement,” Jelly Roll wrote. “A joke ain’t a political stance. And loving your neighbor doesn’t come with an asterisk.”
