Jimmy Kimmel guest host hit with MAGA fury over Lindsey Graham jokes

MAGA Twitter poured scorn on the guest host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! over his jokes about the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

Graham died suddenly Saturday at the age of 71, and his sister Darline Graham Nordone has been appointed to serve out the remainder of his Senate term.

The news became fodder for comedian Ike Barinholtz, who is one of the rotating stable of performers filling in for Kimmel during his summer vacation.

‘But the big political story today is that we officially have a replacement for Lindsey Graham in the Senate,’ said Barinholtz: ‘and it’s Lindsey Graham’s sister, which is very confusing because I always thought Lindsey Graham was Lindsey Graham’s sister.’

Noting that Nordone had just been sworn in, Barinholtz, 49, cracked that she ‘said she’ll work very hard over the next several months to support the president, and she pledges to suck his t**s even harder than her brother did.’

His quips were greeted with howls of condemnation on X, where one user fumed: ‘Disgusting. Good grief,’ and another snapped: ‘Pure trash nothing remotely funny.’

The Daily Mail has contacted Graham’s office for comment.

MAGA Twitter poured scorn on the guest host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! over his jokes about the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham; Kimmel pictured December 2025 

Graham, pictured last month, died suddenly Saturday at the age of 71, and his sister Darline Graham Nordone has been appointed to serve out the remainder of his Senate term

During his monologue, Barinholtz joked that he approved so strongly of the idea of Graham’s sister replacing him that he was ‘going to use it myself.’

He proclaimed that ‘in the event I am unable to fill my duties here at the Jimmy Kimmel show, the remainder of my term as guest host will be served out by my sister, Ikina Barinholtz. She’s here with us tonight. Say hi.’

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The show cut to a sH๏τ of Barinholtz in the audience in drag, putting down his knitting to offer a wave, a smile and a coquettish: ‘Hi, boys!’ 

X users bewailed the ‘nonstop vial trash from the production & network’ and denounced Barinholtz as a ‘Disgusting leftist irrelevant pukestain.’ 

‘They don’t know this is why they keep losing,’ one wrote as another sniffed: ‘Is Ike a comedian? He’s not funny. Perhaps he’s just a dips***.’

‘Using Johnny Carson’s body language does not make you Johnny Carson,’ another observed, while still another emitted a similarly nostalgic sigh: ‘Sure miss Carson & Letterman. Quit the late nite talk shows years ago.’

Graham, who represented South Carolina and was famed for his vigorous military interventionism, died mere hours after he returned to America from a trip to Ukraine.

The following day, his office announced his preliminary cause of death as aortic dissection brought on by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, but noted that his ‘toxicological and microscopic testing’ were still underway.

The news became fodder for comedian Ike Barinholtz, who is one of the rotating stable of performers filling in for Kimmel during his summer vacation

Graham’s sister is pictured Tuesday leaving the Senate floor, where she had visited her late brother’s desk before being sworn in to serve the remainder of his term

Barinholtz’s quips were greeted with howls of condemnation on X, where one user fumed: ‘Disgusting,’ and another snapped: ‘Pure trash nothing remotely funny’

South Carolina’s Republican Governor Henry McMaster announced that Graham’s sister would serve out his term, which was to expire this coming January. 

A special GOP primary election for Graham’s Senate seat will be held August 11, with a runoff – should one be required – to take place August 25. 

Jimmy Kimmel Live! was briefly suspended last September after its host suggested that Charlie Kirk’s killer may have been part of the ‘MAGA gang,’ prompting the FCC chairman to publicly threaten a probe into the show.

The early murder investigation indicated that the accused gunman Tyler Robinson held leftist views and allegedly texted his live-in transgender lover Lance Twiggs, aka Luna, that he sH๏τ the conservative influencer because he ‘had enough of his hatred.’

Kimmel’s suspension was met with an explosive outcry from Hollywood, and ABC backtracked, restoring his show to the airwaves within a week.

Robinson, 23, is now standing trial for Kirk’s murder in Utah, where if convicted he could face execution by either lethal injection or firing squad.

Kimmel announced his summer holiday late last month, joking on the air that he would be ‘taking the next two months off, this time voluntarily.’

To laughter from the live audience, he added: ‘I asked one of our commander-in-chief’s all-time favorites, Rosie O’Donnell, to be here to keep the hits coming.’

Among the other celebrity guest-hosts he ᴀssembled were Jelly Roll – who is in the midst of a publicity whirlwind over his divorce from Bunnie XO – as well as Colman Domingo, Anthony Anderson and Tiffany Haddish.