To mark Fox News’ 30th anniversary, Jimmy Kimmel produced a brutal supercut focusing on the network’s most infamous culture-war controversies, going over decades of controversy regarding everything from former President Barack Obama’s tan suit to its green M&M’s footwear.
On his monologue for Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday, the ABC late-night host ridiculed the conservative network for its habit of turning apparently insignificant topics into political controversies.
Media magnate Rupert Murdoch launched Fox News on October 7, 1996. Kimmel then asked himself what sort of birthday present would be suitable for “the network that ruined everything.”
He then described Fox News as being similar to Black Entertainment Television (BET) but targeted at ‘angry white grandpas’.
Kimmel also ridiculed Murdoch by picturing the billionaire starting the channel after he had decided that news coverage should reflect exactly what he personally wanted it to.
The comedian said that the network had led to political divisions among American families and made a joke about Fox News causing it to be harder for men to have conversations with their fathers.
Kimmel then showed a clip in which Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy was promoting two limited-edition wines launched to mark the network’s anniversary.
Before introducing what he described as a “fair and balanced tribute” to the network’s thirty years on television. The montage that resulted showed Fox presenters reacting angrily to a wide variety of cultural war stories they regularly air.
Some of the highlights included criticism of Obama’s now-famous tan suit and the fact that he saluted while holding a coffee cup, along with complaints regarding an alleged war on Christmas.
Some of the clips looked at the conservative anger about Mr. Potato Head being made gender-neutral, the allegations that Lego had adopted woke politics and the complaints that the green M&M chocolates were no longer wearing sexy boots.
The compilation also included former Fox host Megyn Kelly stating that both Jesus and Santa Claus are white, as well as parts that criticized the animated character SpongeBob SquarePants for touching on the issue of global warming.
Kimmel claimed that Fox News had set the formula, which other conservative outlets such as Newsmax, Real America’s Voice and the Right Side Broadcasting Network followed. He proposed that the network’s formula was to keep older viewers politically agitated, getting them to “get mad and stay mad.”
The late-night host ended the segment with a sarcastic expression of thanks for Fox News having been on the air for three decades.
Having watched the compilation, Kimmel went back to the anniversary wine that had been featured earlier in the program.
“After watching that, I do need some wine,” he concluded.