Rosie O’Donnell spent her four nights filling in for Jimmy Kimmel talking about President Donald Trump. And it seems the White House wasn’t a fan of some of the jokes she made at his expense.
On Friday, August 21, a White House spokesperson fired back in a statement to Entertainment Weekly, calling O’Donnell a “nasty woman” and a “total slob” whose “brain has been completely destroyed by Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Jokes directed at Trump
O’Donnell kicked off her first monologue on Monday with a warning for viewers. “If you thought the president hated Jimmy Kimmel Live’ when it was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel? Buckle up, people! Buckle up.”
The comedian then joked about her decision to move to Ireland, saying she had been living there because of “Mango Mussolini.”
“I read that Project 2025 and said, ‘Gotta get myself out of here!’ and I decided to go to Ireland where people are driven to drink regardless of who’s running their country,” she added.
‘Donny Boy’ song
At the end of her final show, O’Donnell thanked “everyone who’s been watching this week, especially the hungry, hungry hypocrite in the White House.”
She then performed a parody of the classic Irish song “Danny Boy,” renaming it “Donny Boy” as a nod to Trump.
“Poor Donny boy your polls, your polls are falling. Your reflecting pool is green as Mountain Dew. Your wig’s a mess, your ballroom is appalling, and with Iran you’ve bit off more than you can chew,” O’Donnell sang.
“Measles are back, inflation is a-swelling; you post all night, you’re sleeping while you work. And what’s with all this useless crap you’re selling? Hey, sweetie pie, you’re driving us all berserk. But there’s a way to end this drama. It’s time to use that stable-genius brain. Since we all know you’ll never be [Barack] Obama, why not resign, and make this country great again?”
Complicated relationships
O’Donnell and Trump have been going back and forth since 2006. At the time, O’Donnell joked about his bankruptcies while appearing on The View.
Her relationship with Kimmel hasn’t always been smooth sailing either. Before taking over as guest host, she told Variety she was “surprised” by the offer because the two previously had an “adversarial relationship.”
“I support [Kimmel] in what he’s doing with the First Amendment, and our ability as entertainers and citizens to speak out against our government that’s enshrined in the Founding Fathers’ writings about our government, so I think he’s fantastic,” O’Donnell said.
“And I wish that Stephen Colbert had the same kind of support when it happened to him, because he shouldn’t be gone either.”
Moving to Ireland
O’Donnell’s return to late-night TV comes more than a year after she moved to Ireland with her youngest child. She left the U.S. in January 2025, just before Trump’s second inauguration.
At the time, she said the political climate was a big factor in her decision. She also said she was applying for Irish citizenship because of her Irish roots.
“I was never someone who thought I would move to another country, that’s what I decided would be the best for myself and my 12-year-old child. And here we are,” she shared.
“It’s been heartbreaking to see what’s happening politically and hard for me personally as well,” O’Donnell continued. “The personal is political, as we all know … I just felt like we needed to take care of ourselves and make some hard decisions and follow through.”