Comedian Jim Gaffigan discussed the aftermath of his anti-Trump commentary during an appearance on The Daily Beast’s Laugh Last podcast, released Wednesday.
Reflecting on earlier remarks he had made about former President Donald Trump, Gaffigan expressed regret over alienating some of Trump’s staunch supporters.
During the podcast, Gaffigan recounted his decision to engage in political discourse through a series of critical tweets aimed at Trump.
Back in August 2020, ahead of the presidential election and while COVID-19 was wreaking havoc globally, the comedian had taken to Twitter to issue a fiery tirade.
“You know Trump just creates enemies. You know you can’t trust him. You know he’s been incompetent during this crisis. You know all those people didn’t need to die,” Gaffigan tweeted.
You know Trump just creates enemies. You know you can’t trust him. You know he been incompetent during this crisis. You know all those people didn’t need to die. Trump talks about the Space Program and you can’t safely go to a movie. Wake up
— Jim Gaffigan (@JimGaffigan) August 28, 2020
“Trump talks about the Space Program when you can’t safely go to a movie. Wake up.”
At the time, Gaffigan tweeted over 15 strongly worded statements slamming Trump, calling the then-president a “con man” and a “rapist.”
“To those of you who think I’m destroying my career wake up. If Trump gets elected, the economy will never come back,” he said on Twitter.
Look Trumpers I get it. As a kid I was a cubs fan and I know you stick by your team no matter what but he’s a traitor and a con man who doesn’t care about you. Deep down you know it. I’m sure you enjoy pissing people off but you know Trump is a liar and a criminal.
— Jim Gaffigan (@JimGaffigan) August 28, 2020
Addressing the MAGA-leaning individuals amongst his followers, he added, “Look Trumpers, I get it. As a kid I was a Cubs fan and I know you stick by your team no matter what but he’s a traitor and a con man who doesn’t care about you.”
“Deep down you know it. I’m sure you enjoy pissing people off but you know Trump is a liar and a criminal,” he added.
Speaking to the podcast’s hosts about his controversial tirade, Gaffigan admitted that it wasn’t without its consequences.
“I regret that people think that I was criticizing people that support Trump. And that was never the intention,” he explained. “I regret— someone said like, now I can’t follow you anymore and I kind of said ‘F you’ to them.”
At the same time, he acknowledged the fallout from his posts, musing, “I don’t regret it, but I also do acknowledge that there are true die-hard Trump fans who probably enjoyed my comedy, but because they feel so passionately will never forgive me.”
Gaffigan elaborated, noting, “But also, something I’ve noticed in doing stand-up for so long is, you’re going to lose people. You’re also going to attract people.”
“But there are going to be people who are like, you know, I don’t have kids, I think he’s funny, but I don’t get this,” he continued.
Despite the buzz created by his tweets, Gaffigan observed that there was no “measurable” impact on his career after his public comments went viral.
“There were definitely comments on social media, and there are still some,” he said.
Gaffigan added a humorous anecdote involving his son’s response to his political outburst. “My son, who’s so funny—I posted something, and my 18-year-old son commented, ‘I liked him until he went on his Trump rant.’”
Gaffigan touched on the challenges he faced while making jokes at the prestigious Al Smith dinner event, where both political figures and a divided audience were in attendance.
“I knew that it was going to feel like a Trump home game,” Gaffigan explained, reflecting on the atmosphere of the charity event.
However, delivering laughs at the expense of both sides wasn’t without its critics. He recalled receiving pushback from some on the left for his playful digs at Trump during the dinner.
“I was ‘normalizing a fascist,’ right?” he remarked about the critiques. “I knew going into it that I was going to get criticism from both sides. I’m not a roast comedian. I mean, I love politics, but I just don’t talk about it.”
“So I knew that if I did jokes about either side, there was going to be some blowback. But I also thought it was worth it,” he noted.
Interestingly, Gaffigan disclosed that he had previously declined invitations to headline the famous White House Correspondents’ Dinner on more than one occasion.
Instead, he had opted to take on the Al Smith dinner, viewing it as an opportunity to approach the event with finesse.
Jim Gaffigan just EVISCERATED Kamala and the Dems.
“The Democrats have been telling us Trump’s reelection is a threat to democracy. In fact, they were so concerned of this threat, they staged a coup, ousted their democratically elected incumbent, and installed Kamala Harris.” pic.twitter.com/PGufMyRB94
— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) October 18, 2024
“And I was like, you know what? I’ll do the Al Smith thing,” he said. “Some of it was, I like the challenge of possibly doing this in a nimble way.”
“Like, I have religion jokes where, if you can do it in a way where you can make the believer and the agnostic laugh, it’s mission accomplished,” he explained. “So I wanted to go about doing the Al Smith dinner in that same way.”
When it came to then-Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Gaffigan admitted he had to tread carefully, knowing that critiques of her might not be well-received.
“But what I thought was interesting about this election is—and maybe because it was so important, and maybe because it was such a short election for Kamala—that people were like, ‘Don’t criticize her,’” he commented. “And my whole thing is, that’s actually bad to have to have that approach.”
Reflecting on the public reaction to his tempered jokes, he said, “And I think in hindsight, a lot of people feel that way.”