Jimmy Kimmel Responds to Elon Musk Calling Him a ‘Propaganda Puppet’: ‘Listen Kermit, You Bought Twitter’

At least my children like me, you know,” Kimmel said during his monologue on Thursday night’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Musk posted about Kimmel on Wednesday after the late-night host teared up while talking about Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. election.

“The guy who paid people a million dollars a day to vote for Donald Trump is calling me a propaganda puppet,” he continued. “Listen Kermit, you bought Twitter. You bought a social media platform that is literally a propaganda machine.”

Kimmel countered that the insult is actually best aimed at Musk himself. “Let me tell you something, if I spent two weeks trying to come up with a four-word description of Elon Musk, I don’t think I could do better than ‘insufferable nonsense propaganda puppet,’” he said.

He then scrolled through X posts Musk made in the run-up to this year’s election, calling news outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and the Associated Press propaganda.

“Good one, Broseph,” Kimmel said. “Everything is propaganda to Elon Musk.”

The bit all led to Kimmel revealing a project he’s been working on that he hoped “to announce in January when Trump takes office.” A title card for a fake new show then flashed on screen, titled “Insufferable Nonsense Propaganda Puppet” and featuring Kimmel in puppet form. “Now, the surprise is ruined thanks to Elon Musk!” Kimmel joked.

Kimmel’s show took a serious turn during its Wednesday night episode, when he digested Trump’s victory live along with his viewers.

“It was a terrible night for women, for children, for the hundreds of thousands of hard working immigrants who make this country go, for health care, for our climate, for science, for journalism, for justice, for free speech,” he said. “It was a terrible night for poor people, for the middle class, for seniors who rely on Social Security, for our allies in Ukraine, for NATO and democracy and decency. And it was a terrible night for everyone who voted against him. And guess what? It was a bad night for everyone who voted for him too. You just don’t realize it yet.”