Jelly Roll used his second night guest-hosting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to tell angry fans they can quit his music.
The country star, whose real name is Jason DeFord, was filling in for Jimmy Kimmel this week.
On Monday he opened with crude jokes about President Donald Trump’s weight and approval ratings.
He said his own 300-pound weight loss meant he had “lost an entire Donald Trump,” then added that “most of the country wants to do the same thing,” according to Fox News.
He also called himself and the president “fat pig[s]” and delivered a vulgar punchline about fitness.
Trump-supporting fans noticed. Some called him a sellout and said they were done with his songs.
On Tuesday night, he came back and doubled down.
Will you ever intentionally listen to a Jelly Roll song again?
Yes: 0% (0 Votes)
No: 100% (18 Votes)
“Some folks online were upset that I didn’t treat the president with reverence and dignity,” he said.
“But I want to remind y’all that I go by the name Jelly Roll.”
He said he made the jokes because he was hosting “a damn late-night show.”
“That’s where you talk about the news and you make jokes.”
Then he addressed the boycott talk.
“For those who threatened to stop listening to my music based on my comments last night, I just want to say with conviction: go right ahead,” he said.
Fans had already been furious after the first monologue.
Jelly Roll got famous selling redemption, faith, and working-class pain to the same heartland crowd that voted for Trump.
Christians and country fans made him a stadium act. Hollywood did not.
Now he appears to think he is big enough to kick that base to the curb and pick up a new one on Kimmel’s couch.
We’ll see.
His late-night defense is the weakest part. Presidents have always been joke material, he said. That is not how the genre has actually worked.
Late-night hosts treated Barack Obama with reverence. They handled Joe Biden with kid gloves until it was obvious he was finished.
The nasty, nightly pile-on is reserved for Trump and for Republicans in general.
That is not “how late night works.” That is how one side of the media works.
Jelly Roll can say whatever he wants. Nobody owes him an audience.
The people who streamed “Need a Favor” and “Son of a Sinner” are allowed to notice when the singer who sold them sincerity starts auditioning for a different room.
If the new fans show up in the same numbers, he wins the bet.
If they don’t, he will have told his actual customers to leave, live on ABC.
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