Jimmy Kimmel
Role at the time: Host of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, in a monologue
Statement summary
In his September 23 monologue, Jimmy Kimmel mocked Sen. Tommy Tuberville's floor remarks about airline workers and the furry community, saying "Only the Lord and Donald Trump can stop these six-foot squirrels from flying you to Phoenix on Southwest" and that he cannot think of "a more serious, made-up problem in this country right now than furries flying airplanes".
“Only the Lord and Donald Trump can stop these six-foot squirrels from flying you to Phoenix on Southwest. I cannot think of a more serious, made-up problem in this country right now than furries flying airplanes.”
Full episode of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! from Wednesday, September 23, 2026, as uploaded to YouTube. In the monologue, Kimmel plays clips of Senator Tuberville's floor remarks about airline workers and the furry community and comments on them.
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The reference point is Tuberville's claim that many airline pilots, flight attendants and air traffic controllers are furries and a flight-safety risk. Kimmel ridicules it and calls furries flying airplanes a "made-up problem", which rejects the claim outright rather than only disputing its wording.