Late-night hosts are seizing on the implosion of the Trump-Musk bromance.JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
It’s the social-media fight that is impossible to escape – and for late-night hosts, it is comedy gold.
U.S. President Donald Trump and the world’s richest man Elon Musk are in the midst of a very public friendship breakup, and there was only one word that TV comedians wanted to use to describe the fallout from this powerful uncoupling: “nuclear.”
The usual late-night suspects of Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert could not contain their joy at the chance to showcase the post-for-post hits that Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk took on each other over the last day, dissecting a relationship that had been predicted to fail almost as soon as it became public.
Seth Meyers:
On Late Night with Seth Meyers, the jokes were delivered mostly in the form of clips not just from the main pair, but also the surrounding cast of characters, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, whose now-frayed relationship with Mr. Musk was the star of the show.
In a clip from a press conference, Speaker Johnson is asked, “Have you spoken to the President and Elon since the infamous tweet?” In response, he says with a deep breath, “Well, I’ll tell you I called Elon last night and he didn’t answer.”
“Brutal,” quipped Mr. Meyers.
Jimmy Kimmel
Over at Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host said he was originally hoping to talk about Game 1 of the NBA Finals before the Trump-Musk feud derailed his planned monologue. Still, Jimmy Kimmel revelled in the news of the bromance going sour and turning into a full-blown social media war, saying “You know, I knew this day would come, and yet, somehow, it’s even better than I imagined. It’s like coming down the stairs on Christmas morning and finding a second tree.”
Mr. Kimmel also riffed on “the really big bomb” that Mr. Musk dropped on X – the platform he owns, formerly Twitter – in which he alleged that Mr. Trump’s name appears in files that document associations with Jeffrey Epstein.
“That’s a serious accusation. What does Elon know? What evidence could there possibly be that Trump was in league with Jeffrey Epstein? Other than this and this,” Mr. Kimmel continued, as older images and footage of Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein together were shown during the monologue. “If it’s not true, he could get sued for a zillion dollars.”
Mr. Kimmel added, “I feel bad for Donald Trump. I mean, first, he lost Jeffrey Epstein. Now, he’s running out of friends. This is so hard for everyone, except me, of course.”
Jimmy Fallon:
Jimmy Fallon kicked off his monologue by poking fun at the feud with the line: “Things have taken a shocking turn with one of the hottest couples on Love Island. Of course, I’m talking about Donald Trump and Elon Musk.”
“Seriously, the relationship went completely off a cliff faster than a self-driving Tesla. I’m not saying it’s bad right now,” he added before comparing the situation to Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal situation. “But Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are saying, ‘Guys, take it easy, this is getting out of hand.’”
The late-night host said he couldn’t believe the Trump-Musk relationship “fell apart this fast,” while throwing out a few other pop culture references related to Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner, and Katy Perry during his monologue.
“A week ago, they were all over each other like Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at a Knicks game.” He also added, “Trump didn’t stop there. He also said that the easiest way for the country to save money would be to terminate all of Elon Musk’s government contracts. Smart. Now the future of space exploration rests on Katy Perry.”
Stephen Colbert:
On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he parroted what many of the other hosts had said in response to Elon Musk’s “make my day” X post: “You two … have already made mine.”
Wheeling through the ups and downs of the fraught relationship, Mr. Colbert touched on Mr. Musk’s many children, Kanye West wading into the fray, and the tenuousness of threatening a man whose technology is supporting American astronauts in space (“don’t get too attached to your current bone density!”).
But perhaps the best moment came when Mr. Colbert drilled down into Mr. Trump’s disparaging remarks about electric vehicles, despite having purchased a Tesla himself. “So now, Donald Trump is a Tesla owner who hates Elon Musk?” Colbert asks. “He’s never been more relatable.”