‘America’s North Korea.’ TV host Jimmy Kimmel gets ripped for his joke about Florida
People who live in Florida get to make fun of Florida.
But outsiders? Locals sometimes have a problem with that.
Take, for example, what went down with Jimmy Kimmel.
On Thursday, the late night talk show host ripped the Sunshine State during his monologue that mentioned Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recently announced “2021 Python Challenge,” in which wranglers win prizes for capturing invasive snakes in the Everglades.
Opening the bit, Kimmel called Florida “America’s North Korea.”
“In America’s North Korea, the Sunshine State, from time to time, we enjoy taking a look at what’s going on, and tonight we are doing it again in a Gov. DeSantis edition of ‘This Week in Florida,’ ” Kimmel ribbed while tropical music plays and a fake postcard flashes across the screen.
DeSantis is then seen kicking off the annual event in Key Biscayne, celebrating the brave people who remove invasive Burmese pythons.
“Participants who remove the most pythons and capture the longest pythons will receive prizes,” says DeSantis at the news conference kicking off registration to the challenge.
The audience laughs and Kimmel says: “Unfortunately, all the prizes are pythons, so it’s a pythonathon going on there in Florida.”
The challenge runs July 9-18. Cash rewards start at $1,500 per reptile.
Many people on Twitter called out Kimmel’s questionable satire, and jumped to Florida’s defense.
“Imagine if I care about what this guy thinks about my state,” wrote one.
Another bashed the former “The Man Show” host who hails from New York: “Fine role model to lecture the nation.”
One Twitter user summed up the attempt at humor with three words: “Late night cringe.”
To register, go to flpythonchallenge.org
This story was originally published June 7, 2021 at 4:08 PM.
