Donald Trump‘s confusing — and still not altogether clear — plan for bailing out Hollywood was the subject of many a late night monologue on Monday night, including on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
“Trump’s now aiming his wrecking ball at Hollywood,” Kimmel noted in his monologue, noting Trump’s social media post this weekend detailing, sort of, his plan to rescue the entertainment industry:
“He wrote… ‘The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat.’
“’Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!’”
Kimmel zeroed in on the vagueness of what this really means.
“We do? Because I don’t care where they’re made. I really don’t,” he said. “You know what? It’s what the late, great Hannibal Lecter would’ve wanted… Sonic – the illegal immigrant hedgehog – is a national security threat and he must be stopped!
“And this wasn’t just another late Sunday night whim for Trump. He said, ‘I have done some very strong research over the last week,’ which means he had brunch with Jon Voight at Mar-A-Lago this weekend.”
When the audience chuckled, Kimmel noted that it wasn’t a joke — that was very true.
“This is where he reportedly got the tariff, the movies idea – from Angelina Jolie’s 86-year-old father she won’t talk to,” he said. “What a great idea. Next year, ‘The White Lotus’ is gonna be set at a Hampton Inn.”
Trump’s announcement that he was “authorizing” the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to impose a 100% tariff on “any and all” movies produced in “foreign lands” sparked plenty of skepticism and confusion in Hollywood on Monday, as no one was quite sure what Trump was really focused on or if his plan was even enforceable, or legal.
As Variety reported Monday, Trump’s comments came after actor Jon Voight and his producing partner, Steven Paul, met with the president over the weekend and said they shared a “comprehensive” plan to rescue the entertainment industry. That plan includes federal incentives for production and post-production, co-production treaties with foreign countries as well as infrastructure subsidies for theater owners and production companies, job training, and changes to the tax code, but only called for tariffs in “certain limited circumstances.”
Here’s Kimmel’s monologue from Monday night on “Jimmy Kimmel Live”: