Jimmy Kimmel Apologizes for Homophobic Tweets

Jimmy Kimmel is trying to lay his feud with Sean Hannity to rest, Variety reports.

The feud ignited last week after Kimmel made jokes about First Lady Melania Trump’s accent, and Hannity responded to the jokes by calling Kimmel an “ass clown” on his show.

Kimmel shared an apologetic statement on Twitter.

“While I admit I did have fun with our back and forth, after some thought, I realize that the level of vitriol from all sides (mine and me included) does nothing good for anyone and, in fact, is harmful to our country, Even in 2018, the vile attacks against my wife and wishes for death on my infant son are shocking and I encourage those who made them to give their words and actions thought,” Kimmel began.

“I, too, will give my words more thought and recognize my role in inciting their hatefulness. By lampooning Sean Hannity’s deference to the President, I most certainly did not intend to belittle or upset members of the gay community and to those who took offense, I apologize. I will take Sean Hannity at his word that he was genuinely offended by what I believed and still believe to be a harmless and silly aside referencing our First Lady’s accent,” Kimmel added.

Kimmel’s apology to the gay community referenced a joke he made at Hannity, in which he asked, “When your clown makeup rubs off on Trump’s a—, does it make his butt look like a Creamsicle?”

“Mrs. Trump almost certainly has enough to worry about without being used as a prop to increase TV ratings. I am hopeful that Sean Hannity will learn from this too and continue his newly-found advocacy for women, immigrants and First Ladies and that he will triumph in his heroic battle against sexual harassment and perversion,” Kimmel’s statement concluded.

For his part, Hannity responded briefly after the statement was posted, writing that he’d have a “full and comprehensive” response on his show on Monday.