In part, Kimmel is concerned because “the issue is that he’s such a lunatic. we actually have to debate if he meant it literally.” But Kimmel also bleakly joked that the closer we get to the election, the more Trump “talks like Thanos.”

Watch Kimmel’s Monday night monologue above.

Kimmel started by playing a clip from the rally, held Saturday in Ohio, in which Trump had the crowd singing the national anthem in tribute to the Jan. 6 “hostages,” referring to criminals who participated in the insurrection he incited on Jan. 6, 2021.

“And I guess it’s OK to wear a hat during the national anthem now too,” Kimmel commented.

“Trump told the crowd that if he doesn’t win in November, he’s not sure we’ll ever have another election in this country. And if he does win in November, we definitely won’t have another election. But of all the very disturbing things he said, this was probably most disturbing,” Kimmel said as he cued up the “bloodbath” comments.

“The longer this election goes, the more he talks like Thanos,” Kimmel said before turning his attention to Trump’s defense of the comments.

“He’s saying ‘bloodbath.’ So, after the bloodbath remark, people went like, ‘oh that’s not great,’ so Trump went into spin mode, saying he was only talking about a bloodbath in the auto industry.”

“The truth is, the context we should be considering, isn’t whether or not Trump meant ‘bloodbath’ literally,” Kimmel continued. “What the issue is that, he’s such a lunatic, we actually have to debate if he meant it literally. We have to ask, ‘was that totally crazy or just kind of crazy?'”

Kimmel also discussed former Vice President Mike Pence, who has now publicly said he will not endorse Donald Trump for president this year.

The “former Vice Poodle is not being a good boy,” Kimmel said, adding, “it does kind of come as a little bit of a surprise but I guess the Stockholm syndrome finally wore off.”

Kimmel then called for Pence to be added to the cast of “Dancing With the Stars.”

The post Jimmy Kimmel Jokes the Closer the Election Is, The More Trump ‘Talks Like Thanos’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

As the Washington Post reported earlier on Monday, Trump’s current lawyers have come up empty-handed after approaching 30 or more suretors.

“As Americans, we should be very concerned about where that money is coming from,” Cohen told MSNBC’s Michael Steele. “What if, hypothetically, the money is coming from Saudi Arabia or from Qatar? Or through a backdoor channel of Russia? That now leaves a potential presidential candidate owing a foreign entity, all at the expense of America’s national security. This is no joke.”

As the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Trump will be given security briefings by U.S. intelligence agencies, despite the fact that he is facing a separate trial in Florida for allegedly violating the Espionage Act and mishandling classified documents, NBC News reported earlier this month.

Added Cohen, “This places our national security in jeopardy and continues to make Donald Trump the single most dangerous thing in America to our national security and democracy.”

Steele speculated that Trump could be selling state secrets to foreign powers to cover his own legal expenses: “That could potentially make him dangerous. Is he going to be out there looking at how he can backdoor some cash?”

“He doesn’t care where the money comes from as long as he gets it, even if that places our national security in risk,” Cohen said. “He’s already shown documents to individuals over at Mar-a-Lago who did not have clearance to view them.

“I will tell you that making Trump president was the absolute worst idea that I ever had. Bar none,” the lawyer said.

Watch the full MSNBC segment in the video above.

The post Michael Cohen Warns of Foreign Powers Paying Trump’s Legal Bills: ‘This Is No Joke’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

“The New York Times on Sunday very often has on the back page of the weekend review a focus group with people — like 12 people. And I’m reading this, like, thinking, ‘Oh, we’re so f–ked.’ They’re just saying the dumbest s–t, and it’s printed in The New York Times.”

“I used to think that’s a great newspaper, and I don’t anymore,” Cleese responded.

“I don’t either. And I mean, it’s sad because it was, like, on my breakfast table when I was a kid,” Maher lamented. “It was in my parents’ house.”

The political commentator and comedian added that the paper has “great” columnists and “they cover the places in the world that no one else has a reporter.”

“But what’s annoying about it is that it’s not just ‘give me the facts,'” Maher continued. “There’s way too much editorializing on the front page, the way the articles that are just supposed to be the facts are slanted one way. And I’m not even necessarily for the other side.”

Maher added, “I just want someone to tell me the whole truth, not just your version of it, because you can lie by what you omit. And both sides do.”

“Trying to get a really accurate picture of something has got harder and harder and harder,” Cleese replied. “The hard thing is getting any reliable information.”

Cleese observed that inaccurate information goes all the way back to the Shakespearean age and that King Richard III wasn’t really hunchbacked, as he is portrayed by the famed playwright. “That was Lancasteran propaganda,” the comedian posed.

“You mean Shakespeare just gave him that hunchback?” Maher asked. “Well, it worked, we’re still talking about it.”

You can watch the entire two-hour conversation in the YouTube video above. The New York Times discussions begin around the 52-minute mark.

The post Bill Maher and John Cleese Say New York Times Is No Longer ‘Reliable’: ‘We’re So F—ked’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

“Donald Trump, again the Republican frontrunner who’s clinched the nomination,” Brzezinski said after playing a clip from a weekend speech in Ohio in which the former president emphasized his intention to free individuals imprisoned for the Capitol riot in January 2021.

“One of the first things he’ll do in office is free the — and I say this in quotes — ‘hostages,'” Brzezinski said. “It’s beyond twisted for him to use that word. Not surprised, but as disturbed as we’ll ever be.”

Cohost Joe Scarborough went on to imagine American families who know hostages held in Gaza hearing Trump draw such a parallel to aggressors who eagerly turned to violence in Washington D.C.

“People who actually are hostages who were doing nothing but being in their home or at a music festival, minding their own business when Hamas terrorists came and seized them and beat them, raped them, abused them, took them underground,” Scarborough added. “And Donald Trump comparing those people in name to others that drove from across the country, came to the Capitol, used bear spray on police officers, beat the hell out of cops, beat the hell out of other people who got in their way, wanted to hang Mike Pence, were looking for Nancy Pelosi, destroyed a lot of offices, defecated in the United States Capitol and again jammed cops heads in indoors and tried to hurt as many people as they could.”

The hosts also reviewed former Vice President Mike Pence’s response to Trump’s comments, pointing out that he denounced his former colleague and refused to endorse him in the 2024 presidential race.

“I think it’s very unfortunate at a time that there are American hostages being held in Gaza, that the president or any other leaders would refer to people that are moving through our justice system as hostages. It’s just unacceptable,” Pence told Margaret Brennan on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I was there on Jan. 6. I have no doubt in my mind, Margaret, that some people were caught up in the moment and entered the Capitol, and they’re certainly entitled to due process of law for any nonviolent activities that day, but the assaults on police officers, ultimately an environment that claimed lives, is something that I think was tragic that day and I’ll never diminish it.”

Watch the full “Morning Joe” segment in the video above.

The post ‘Morning Joe’ Says Trump Is ‘Beyond Twisted’ for Calling Jan. 6 Rioters ‘Hostages’ During Ongoing Israeli Crisis | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Things started when Pieters reached out to Carlson’s team via email and claimed he was the person who edited the Princess of Wales’ viral image, which the Associated Press and other photo services later pulled after finding that it had been digitally altered.

After reminding viewers of Middleton’s ongoing health-and-Photoshop-related woes, Pieters noted in the video that Carlson has “interviewed Putin and covered some really important stories” before he cut to a clip of the commentator expressing his disdain for a “plus-sized, obese purple M&M” on Fox News.

Since being fired by the network, Carlson launched his own streaming platform. That’s the outlet Pieters emailed to set up a potential interview with Manners, who posed as the recently fired digital content creator for the Prince and Princess of Wales.

“Tucker Carlson’s people have replied,” Manners told Pieters. “They’re calling today at 6 p.m.”

The pair then made a plan to move forward. Because Pieters was out of town, Manners was left to handle business.

“I just saw the email that you had sent,” an unnamed woman from Carlson’s team told Manners. “So if you could just kind of explain the story,” she added, before Manners jumped in.

His tale was that, as an employee (named George, coincidentally like Middleton’s oldest son) of Kensington Palace, he was asked to edit a photo before it was sent to “all mainstream media.” After the organizations issued a kill notice, “well, now I’ve been fired.”

The woman then asked if Manners could show the original, unedited photo first, and also for proof that he worked at the palace at all — “Not because I don’t believe you, we have to ask this for every single person.”

Manners relayed the information to Pieters, who put together proof of employment.

“Just use Photoshop, it’s very easy. That’s what everyone else is doing at the moment, it’s very in,” he told Pieters.

The pair agreed to “make it silly” to determine if Carlson’s team would appropriately vet them as a source.

Manners also asked Pieters to “un-edit” the Mother’s Day photo (“It’ll be quite fun,” he explained). Pieters dutifully swapped out a few details in the photo and added a Christmas tree in the room behind Middleton and her children. He also created a fake Kensington Palace logo which included three words in Latin that translate to “Every little helps” — the motto for the grocery store chain Tesco.

The ruse worked, and Manners is soon shown at Westminster Studios in London, where he connected with Carlson via video. In the voiceover, Pieters insisted that he felt Carlson would realize something was wrong and call off the interview, but things went ahead as planned.

At one point, Carlson himself said that “we’ve done our best to verify” Manner’s claims, which possibly indicated that someone — or maybe everyone — didn’t quite believe his story.

And that’s what Carlson’s team in fact later told TMZ. The outlet reported that someone on Carlson’s staff identified Manners as a well-known prankster within an hour of the interview and that “Tucker’s team wasn’t totally convinced the story was real to begin with, but decided to tape the interview anyway while continuing to look into the story.”

The pranksters also let the cat out of the bag early, announcing the prank online ahead of went they said they’d been told Carlson would be running the segment next week.

It makes sense that Carlson’s team hoped to get ahead of the story and claim they knew what was going on the entire time, but the fact remains that the former Fox News host has a checkered history of his own that works against him. Carlson has frequently appeared to dabble in lies, misinformation and falsehoods — he has practically bathed in them, such as his recent interview of Putin.

Carlson’s lies about election fraud were at the heart of the $787.5 million lawsuit the network lost to Dominion Voting Systems in 2023. He spent years disparaging those who spoke out against claims the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. The lawsuit produced plenty of evidence, mostly through text messages Carlson sent to others, that showed the commentator didn’t necessarily believe the claims he himself parroted on his show — and that he believed Trump was “a demonic force, a destroyer.”

Carlson has continued to peddle misinformation since his dismissal. As recently as January, he told viewers that “illegal immigration outpaced American births” during August 2023, a statement that has been proven so incorrect it would be comedic if it wasn’t clear that the man has no issue spinning untruths to prove a political point. Whether he was on to the joke Manners and Pieters played or not, one thing is clear: if Carlson got a taste of his own medicine, he probably deserved it.

Watch the entire Goon Productions prank in the video above.

The post Tucker Carlson Tricked by YouTubers Claiming They Edited Kate Middleton’s Mother’s Day Photo | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

After more jokes about current events, Bill Murray came out onstage and interrupted the monologue so he and Ernie Hudson could talk about the new “Ghostbusters” movie. Fun stuff and you can watch the whole thing above now.

“This Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day. Everyone likes to have fun on St. Patrick’s Day. Then the next day people see all the drunk photos of themselves and edit them like the royal family,” Fallon joked.

“I love St. Patrick’s because even people who aren’t Irish trying to explain how little bit Irish they are, they’re like ‘Yeah, I saw U2.’ Of course, what’s St. Patrick’s Day without corned beef and cabbage, and I like any good Irishman started boiling mine around mid-January.”

Discussing how to celebrate, Fallon added, “I thought maybe better to read a few of my favorite Irish limericks for you guys right now.” And then he proceeded to drop some limericks on us.

“St. Patrick’s Day is here, a time to drink green beer. But if you have more than three, next morning you’ll be squirtin’ shamrock shake out of your rear,” Fallon began.

“March Madness, I love you truly, so I entered me Office pool-y. But the teams that I trusted, let me bracket go busted. Now I owe 20 grand to FanDuel-y,” Fallon continued.

“Spring break the students were going — excited, they all were a-glowin’. Then they let out a squeal, lost the door and the wheel, guess they shouldn’t have flown in a Boeing,” Fallon quipped.

Then he got to the election joke. “To running for president, we know, the polls show it’s a dead heat-o. The campaign is long, the candidates ain’t strong — a choice ‘tween a saltine and a Cheeto.”

You can, as we said, watch the full monologue above. And skip to the 5 minute mark to see Bill Murry and Ernie Hudson. You can also seem them teaching Jimmy Fallon just how to use a proton pack:

The post Jimmy Fallon Celebrates St. Patrick’s Day With Biden-Trump Limerick: ‘Choice Between a Saltine and a Cheeto’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

“Apparently they’re trying to appeal to younger voters. Is that the way to do it and is that the right priority to hold?” asked “Outnumbered” host Emily Compagno. 

“I think this week, things have become very apparent that Kamala Harris cannot address certain issues like the border, but she can address two things that seem to be Democrat Disneyland, which is abortion and weed,” Lahren said. “And that is what the Democratic Party things of their voters. They think those are the issues that are going to get you out [to the polls], abortion and weed.”

“Unfortunately, they might not be wrong. And it might be a winning strategy for the Democrats,” she admitted. “If they can play on those two issues, it gets people out to vote that might otherwise stay home. Weed and abortion. Sad reality, but it might be true.”

Patrick J. Murphy, a former Pennsylvania congressman and lawyer, added, “It’s a different world out there. Dozens of these states have medical marijuana, and it’s legalized now.” He mentioned that Republican Rep. Scott Perry is in favor of setting a federal standard, instead of the state-by-state approach.

Compagno added, “Yes, sentencing reform is important. But is it more important than the pain Americans are feeling right now with inflation?”

In his recent State of the Union address, Biden said he has asked his cabinet to review the federal classification of marijuana He also said he is in favor of “expunging thousands of convictions for the mere possession, because no one should be jailed for simply using.” He added that past possession charges should be “wiped off your record.”

At the White House discussion on Friday, Harris said it’s “absurd” and “patently unfair” that by current federal laws, “marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin and more dangerous than fentanyl.”

Watch the whole Fox News exchange in the video above.

The post Tomi Lahren Admits Abortion and Weed Are Issues That Could Win Biden the Election | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

When asked about what it felt like to return to the Studio City lot — home to both “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “The Talk” — Peretti opened up about her favorite memories working with Braugher, who she said was “always singing.”

“Singing. Always singing. We miss him a lot,” Peretti said, revealing that the sitcom’s cast recently got together and Braugher, who died in December, was on everyone’s mind.

“We all had dinner last night,” Peretti said as she began to choke up, pulling herself together by cracking a joke. “Wait, do that baby TikTok thing to me … We shared a lot of memories about him. He was a special person. It’s hard to talk about ’cause it’s emotional.”

Peretti said that having everyone together made her want to continue “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” somehow before positing a movie.

“We’re like, ‘Dan, write us a movie, something.’ It felt weird to all be together for no purpose,” Peretti said. “I want to say I spurred it on an email, ’cause we’re on Netflix, and so [cocreator] Dan [Goor] emailed us to tell us that, and then I was like, ‘When are we getting dinner?’ Then it became about who’s going to pay for the dinner. Tomfoolery, but we got it done. Ate a lot of pasta. Don’t tell Hollywood. “

Braugher played Capt. Ray Holt for all of the series’ eight seasons. On Dec. 11, 2023, the actor died after a brief illness, which was later revealed to be a result of lung cancer, which he was diagnosed with a few months before his death.

The post Chelsea Peretti Tears Up Remembering ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Costar Andre Braugher | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

“Elon Musk has canceled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplifying more diverse voices on their platform,” Lemon wrote in a statement Wednesday morning. “He informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him on Friday.”

The interview, which Lemon teased Tuesday would spotlight Musk “like you’ve never seen him before,” will remain the premiere episode of “The Don Lemon Show,” according to the statement. It will premiere Monday, March 18, on YouTube, podcast platforms and X.

But, given that Lemon pressed Musk on certain topics, the hosts of “The View” weren’t surpised.

“Everyone knows how controversial Musk is, so I have to ask you,” Joy Behar started. “Didn’t you know this was going to end badly? He’s, you know, Musk is not really … you know.”

Lemon chuckled at that, but maintained that he went into this deal “with my eyes open” and good intentions. By his logic, the social media platform was too big an opportunity to pass up, in terms of audience. But, host Ana Navarro reminded him that he was warned.

“You did it, even though a lot of your friends told you you were crazy,” Navarro said pointedly.

When Lemon replied, “Like you,” she thanked him for the acknowledgement, and Lemon also admitted Sunny Hostin said something similar.

“I did too!” Hostin confirmed cheerfully, taking a dramatic sip from her mug.

You can watch the full segment from “The View” in the video above.

The post ‘The View’ Hosts Give Don Lemon an ‘I Told You So’ After Firing From X: ‘Didn’t You Know This Was Going to End Badly?’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Actor Paul Rudd stopped by “Late Night” on Thursday night, in support of his new movie “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” and, as the discussion progressed, he and Meyers addressed how they talk to legendary actors they love. In Rudd’s case, he’s starred alongside Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Steven Martin and Martin Short as of late.

Rudd admitted that “it does take awhile” for him to work up the courage to just ask these actors outright about their most famous projects, and was curious to know if Meyers struggles with getting nervous around any of his guests still. To that, the host readily answered “Yes,” before revealing his biggest struggle.

“The hardest one was when [David] Letterman was here,” Meyers admitted. “Because you know the thing he wants the least is for you to be like ‘I’m a huge fan.’ Like, that, he would run away. And so, it was just like, ‘Just be normal.’ Like, having to tell yourself the whole time, just be normal.”

Rudd was particularly curious about Meyers’ approach to interviewing, and how he manages to just ask point-blank about certain projects with apparent ease.

“I think, ultimately, you just have to authentically say, ‘I always wanted to ask you this,’ you know?” Meyers explained. “As opposed to trying to find some back door in of like ‘That reminds me!'”

He continued, “You know, just be like ‘I’m just gonna ask you, because I want to know and I don’t know how much longer this party is gonna go.’ And that’s the most fun part.”

You can watch Meyers’ full conversation with Paul Rudd in the video above.

The post Seth Meyers Reveals the ‘Hardest’ Guest for Him to ‘Just Be Normal’ Around | Video appeared first on TheWrap.