Greg Gutfeld is destroying Jimmy Kimmel in the ratings every single week.
And Kimmel just showed you exactly why.
The UCLA women's basketball team – the first in program history to win a national championship – sat down Tuesday night to celebrate one of the greatest moments in their lives.
Lauren Betts and the Bruins Deserved a White House Visit — Not a Political Prop
Kimmel barely waited before steering the whole interview toward Donald Trump.
He noted that Barack Obama had already congratulated the team, then pivoted to ask whether the current president had called.
When the players said no, Kimmel went to work.
"In the event that you do get invited to the White House and you decide to go," he told them, "I have something for you."
https://twitter.com/Oceanbreeze473/status/2042192273266360786?s=20
He pulled out a cheap silver trophy – nothing like the real one sitting right on his desk – and laid out his plan.
"What I want you to do is bring this fake trophy we've made to the White House,” he said. “He's not going to know. But when you bring a trophy, he sometimes takes it and keeps it for himself. So this is for you guys to take to the White House."
These young women just won a national championship by 28 points.
They worked years for that moment.
And the first thing a 58-year-old late-night host wanted to talk about was whether he could use them as props in his ongoing feud with the president.
The players gave Kimmel light laughs – the kind you give someone when you're a guest on their show and you have no choice.
Not a real laugh.
A TV laugh.
Social media noticed immediately.
"Even celebrating their championship he has to make it about himself and his hatred for Trump," one X user wrote.
Another asked the question everyone is thinking: "What will he do when Trump is out of office?"
Gutfeld Is Beating Kimmel in the Ratings — and This Is Why
Here is what makes this moment so revealing.
Kimmel admitted years ago – his words – that his Trump obsession cost him roughly half his audience.
He looked ABC executives in the eye and told them: if I can't do Trump jokes, I'll quit.
They let him keep going.
And the audience kept walking.
Now Gutfeld pulls 3.53 million viewers a week while Kimmel clocks 2.17 million – and dropping.
The man who spent a decade crying on air about Donald Trump – literally weeping on camera after the 2024 election – now uses national champion athletes as political delivery drivers.
That is not a comedy show.
That is a man who has nothing left.
https://twitter.com/17QStorm/status/2041541366560276746?s=20
Meanwhile, those UCLA women – Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez, Angela Dugalić, and coach Cori Close – deserve better than being recruited into someone else's grudge match.
They beat South Carolina 79-51 for the first championship in UCLA women's basketball history.
Colbert Got Canceled — and Disney Is Doing the Same Math on Kimmel
Kimmel did this with the Dodgers last year too.
When the World Series champions visited the White House, Kimmel called it "disappointing" and used their visit to lecture Los Angeles about Jackie Robinson.
Championship celebration – turned into monologue material.
Every single time.
Here is what Disney is not saying out loud: they already watched this movie end badly.
CBS canceled Stephen Colbert – same format, same Trump obsession, same cratering numbers.
Kimmel's contract runs through May 2027.
That's thirteen months from now.
Disney doesn't cancel shows for politics.
They cancel shows for math.
They won't blink forever.
The UCLA women played basketball.
They won a national championship.
They walked into a late-night studio to celebrate.
And Jimmy Kimmel handed them a fake trophy and told them to go trick the president.
Those players looked like they were sitting through detention – polite, patient, giving the bare minimum required to get through the segment.
Disney is doing the same math right now.
And the answer is the same.
Sources:
- Jackson Thompson, "Jimmy Kimmel Tells UCLA Women's Basketball Team to Give Trump Fake National Championship Trophy," Fox News, April 8, 2026.
- Joe Kinsey, "Jimmy Kimmel's Disgusting Trump Obsession Spills Over Into UCLA Interview," OutKick, April 8, 2026.
- Staff, "January Ratings: Colbert, Kimmel Split Again as Gutfeld, Daily Show Gain," LateNighter, February 12, 2026.
- Christian Toto, "'Gutfeld!' Ruled 2025 While Two Late-Night Shows Collapsed," HollywoodInToto, January 12, 2026.
