Jimmy Kimmel tells RFK Jr. to "get back to spreading polio" in viral clap back

Los Angeles, California - Comedian Jimmy Kimmel recently responded after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attempted to attack him on social media.

Jimmy Kimmel (r.) fired back after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared a social media post about the "collapse of liberal comedy."
Jimmy Kimmel (r.) fired back after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared a social media post about the "collapse of liberal comedy."  © Collage: SAUL LOEB / AFP & Monica Schipper / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

On Saturday, Kennedy shared an X post from a user named Peter Girnus, who wrote a lengthy essay claiming to be a "senior vice president of late-night strategy at CBS" who "killed" comedian Stephen Colbert's old Colbert Report alter ego and "put the real man on stage" on The Late Show.

"We turned a jester into a priest," the post continued, adding, "We turned a comedy show into a permission structure and charged $50 million a year to tell people what they already believed in a voice slightly nicer than their own."

Kennedy was quite impressed with the post, describing it as a "Superb dissection of the shocking collapse of liberal comedy."

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"This is the best explanation of how we've reached the nader where Late Night host Jimmy Kimmel can say 'It's not my job to be funny,'" RFK Jr. wrote.

"As this author shows, he was hired as a comedian but he made himself a priest."

The following day, Kimmel shared a screenshot of Kennedy's post to Instagram, along with a caption in pink that read, "It's 'nadir' dummy. Now get back to spreading polio."

Many users in the comments of Kennedy's post had pointed out that Girnus is actually a satirist, and the quote that RFK attributed to Kimmel appears to have come from the satirical site the Babylon Bee.

The secretary's post comes as President Donald Trump continues calling on the Federal Communications Commission to target Kimmel for a second time after he made a joke about First Lady Melania Trump last month.

Cover photo: Collage: SAUL LOEB / AFP & Monica Schipper / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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