What did Jimmy Kimmel say about Ted Cruz? Andy Cohen lauds senator for calling out FCC chair despite comedian’s past criticism

Andy Cohen has extended his support for Jimmy Kimmel after the latter’s show was temporarily suspended by ABC affiliates last week. Speaking on his SiriusXM show on Sunday, Cohen said:

“I just want to say about this Jimmy Kimmel mess… I was very upset by this, and you should be too. First of all, I mean, Jimmy Kimmel, who’s just one of the great guys of all time, top to bottom, the biggest heart, a great guy.”

The Watch What Happens Live host also mentioned being “so gratified” by Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s viewpoint that taking Jimmy Kimmel Live! off-air was wrong, despite Kimmel’s previous criticism of him.

“Ted Cruz coming out and saying this is an overreach by the FCC, and Jimmy Kimmel has called Ted Cruz a lot of names, so I thought, I was like, ‘Good for you, Ted Cruz,’” Andy Cohen stated.

Notably, in May 2021, Cruz called the U.S. military “woke and emasculated” on X, amid its ad featuring a female soldier raised by two mothers. Kimmel responded by making fun of him on his late-night show, especially for being a Trump ally.

“Which I pointed out – fairly, I thought – is funny coming from a guy who – let Donald Trump use his t*sticles – on the driving range. I mean, look, he was Trump’s Theon Greyjoy,” Jimmy stated, referring to the castrated ‘Game of Thrones’ character.

This sparked an online back-and-forth between the duo at the time.

However, despite their past feud, Ted Cruz called out the chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, for threatening to cancel ABC over Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue about the late conservative commentator, Charlie Kirk.

During his Verdict podcast last Friday, Cruz opined that although Carr is a “good guy,” he overreached with his warnings, which were “dangerous as hell” and “right out of Goodfellas.” However, the Texas senator shared that he hated Kimmel’s remarks about Kirk and is “thrilled that he was fired.”

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Exploring the past feud between Jimmy Kimmel and Ted Cruz

In 2018, Jimmy Kimmel described Ted Cruz as a “blobfish,” after an image of the senator attending an NBA playoff match went viral. Subsequently, they faced off in a one-on-one basketball charity game.

Three years later, in May 2021, Cruz tweeted about a U.S. Army commercial and compared it to that of the Russian Army. He called the former “woke and emasculated.” Kimmel ridiculed him and launched a made-up army recruitment ad on his late-night show.

The mockery did not sit well with Ted Cruz, who responded with a tweet that read:

“@JimmyKimmelLive keeps talking crap. Really tough guy. Here’s a reminder: when we played one-on-one, I kicked his a**. He has to live with that... forever. Rematch, punk?”

Kimmel replied by going on his show and saying:

“Once again – I have found myself in a squabble – with the Senate’s least-favorite senator, Ted Cruz.”

Jimmy doubled down on his comment about Cruz being a Trump loyalist. Later, referring to Cruz’s dig at their basketball match’s result, Kimmel added,

“It’s true – I do have to live with that forever. You have to live with being Ted Cruz forever, which is a lot – so much worse.”

The comedian also claimed that Ted won by two points (9-11) at the game, adding that the money went to both teams as they were playing for a charity. Jimmy Kimmel claimed that the video the senator posted showed only the shots he made, not the ones he missed, which is why there was nothing to be proud of.

“Neither one of us had anything to be proud of as far as that game is concerned. Between us – this is true – we made 20 shots. You know how many shots we missed? … Two hundred is the number — 200 shots. We shot like 10% from the field. That game was uglier than him, okay? The charities we were playing for – almost refused to accept the money!” Kimmel quipped.

The ABC host also said that despite the match being “rigged,” he shook Ted Cruz’s “disgusting hand,” didn’t complain about the result, or ask the referee for a recount. Jimmy Kimmel joked that he “didn’t start a conspiracy theory about the basketball having a microchip in it” but simply accepted his defeat.

“I brought shame on my family, and I embraced it, as I always do. And, I mean, listen, it was a terrible day. I lost a basketball game to a man who ate one of his own boogers during a presidential debate,” Kimmel concluded his monologue.

Later, the host-comedian responded directly to Cruz’s tweet by writing, “Oh Ted... you get so sad after you m*sturbate.”

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What did Ted Cruz say about Brendan Carr?

Last Monday, Jimmy Kimmel began his late-night show with a critique of Trump supporters.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it,” he stated.

Two days later, ABC suspended him indefinitely and took his show off-air after FCC chairman Brendan Carr appeared on conservative influencer Benny Johnson’s show and warned ABC to:

“Find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” Carr also called Kimmel’s words “some of the sickest conduct possible”.

While Donald Trump celebrated Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, Ted Cruz criticized Brendan Carr for his threats. Speaking on his podcast on Friday, Cruz said:

“What he [Carr] said there is dangerous as hell. And so he threatens, explicitly, we're going to cancel ABC's licence. We're going to take them off the air so ABC cannot broadcast anymore. He says we can do this the easy way, or we could do this the hard way, yeah. And I got to say that's right out of Goodfellas.”

Ted continued, “That's right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, nice bar you have here, it'd be a shame if something happened to it.” The senator also warned that if government agencies began interfering with what the media said and tried to impose bans and regulations, "that will end up bad for conservatives".

Cruz warned that if conservatives went down this road,

"there will come a time when a Democrat wins again – wins the White House … they will silence us." The senator claimed that liberals would use this power "ruthlessly."

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While several other Republican senators, including Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Jerry Moran of Kansas, and Mike Rounds of South Dakota, appeared to agree with Ted Cruz’s criticism of Brendan Carr, Donald Trump disagreed, according to his Oval Office speech on Friday. The POTUS also defended Carr.