Jimmy Kimmel Insists He’s “Not Moving to Italy” Despite Citizenship
Jimmy Kimmel may have Italian citizenship, but he’s not leaving the U.S.
The ABC late-night host returned from his summer off on Tuesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and he addressed months worth of news, including some outlets taking his reveal that he has secured Italian citizenship to mean that he was leaving the U.S. for Europe and seeing that as an “escape plan.”
After airing some Fox News and Newsmax clips showing how the “MAGA gang went nuts” over the Italian citizenship and presumed move, Kimmel clarified, “I’m not moving to Italy. I never said that. This is where I live. This is my country. I have no intention of running away from it, especially because of Donald Trump,” continued the late-night host. “Let me tell you something, I would move into Mar-a-Lago if I could, just to drive him insane.”
He also explained that his Italian citizenship was long-in-the-works, suggesting it was unconnected to the current U.S. political climate.
“I’ve been trying to get Italian citizen[ship] for almost 20 years. I love Italy,” he said. “Mostly what I like to do is bring my passport to parties and show it to people and make them jealous.”
Kimmel revealed he had secured Italian citizenship in an appearance on Sarah Silverman’s podcast, where the former couple talked about how some stars like Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres had left the U.S. ahead of Trump’s second term, and Silverman ventured, “A lot of people I know are thinking about where they can get citizenship.”
“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 unbelievable. Like, I think it’s probably even worse than he would like it to be.”
Kimmel, who was on his summer hiatus when news broke that CBS’ Late Show With Stephen Colbert had been canceled and would end in May, also responded on Tuesday to Colbert’s show cancellation and one of Trump’s tweets claiming that he would be the next late-night host to lose his job.
“Oh you delicate chubby little tea cup,” Kimmel said, addressing Trump. “You want us to be cancelled because we make jokes about you? I thought you were against cancel culture. I thought that was like their whole thing. When did you become so woke?”
Kimmel also used this moment to announce what The Hollywood Reporter broke exclusively Tuesday night, that he would be returning to his native Brooklyn for a week of shows starting Sept. 29.
“Unfortunately for Frosty the Snowflake, the only place we are going is to New York,” he said, teasing Colbert stopping by as a guest. “One of our guests that week will be my good friend Stephen Colbert.”
Kimmel briefly responded to Colbert’s news the night it was announced, posting on his Instagram Story, “Love you Stephen. Fuck you and all your Sheldons CBS.”
Colbert announced The Late Show‘s cancellation on the air in July.
CBS called the move “purely a financial decision” amid a challenging linear TV environment. But there’s been widespread speculation about possible other reasons for the cancellation, as Colbert has been a prominent critic of President Donald Trump and CBS parent company Paramount Global recently completed a merger with Skydance that had been awaiting FCC approval. Paramount also recently settled a lawsuit filed by Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with Trump’s 2024 presidential election opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris. Colbert criticized the settlement on his show just days before he announced that The Late Show was coming to an end, but CBS said that wasn’t a factor in the decision.
