NEED TO KNOW
- Jimmy Kimmel responded to Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health update by sharing a photo in which the politician’s face was swapped out with his own
- McConnell, 84, originally shared the image of himself in a hospital bed with his constituents on Sunday, July 12, explaining that he’d had a fall and dealt with a mild case of pneumonia
- The lawmaker has been in the hospital for almost a month after being admitted for an unspecified medical condition on June 14
Jimmy Kimmel briefly returned from his summer break to share a response to Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell‘s health update.
McConnell, 84, was admitted to the hospital on June 14 for an unspecified medical condition, marking his second hospitalization this year after a stay for “flu-like” symptoms in February.
The Republican senator’s health has been the subject of speculation over the past month, and on Sunday, July 12, he spoke out to tell his constituents via email that he’d taken “a fall” and “had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia.”
He explained that he had experienced “mobility changes” relating to a childhood polio diagnosis, and that his fall had left him unconscious.
The long-serving lawmaker shared a photo of himself in a hospital bed with his wife, 73-year-old Elaine Chao, by his side, as he held onto Sunday’s edition of The Washington Post.
Kimmel, 58, then responded on Instagram, sharing an image in which McConnell’s face was swapped out with his own.
“For those who’ve been asking, I’m feeling great,” the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host wrote alongside the photo.
Hours later, Kimmel then shared a text exchange on his Instagram Stories, showing a message he’d apparently received from his TV sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez, who asked if he was okay.
“Hi how are you guys doing? Is jimmy ok,” the message read.
“On his Instagram,” Rodriguez then supposedly said, adding, “He put a picture he was at the hospital.”
The late-night host has been away for his annual summer break since June 18, days after McConnell’s hospital admission, with guest hosts Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, Colman Domingo, Jelly Roll and Rosie O’Donnell filling in for him on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
While Kimmel has been away from TV in recent weeks, he has been keeping fans updated on Instagram.
He attended the Taste of Chicago festival, the world’s largest food festival, over the weekend, and wished his American followers a happy Fourth of July the weekend before.
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It has been a somewhat turbulent year for Kimmel’s show, with President Donald Trump — who Kimmel has often taken aim at on TV — calling on ABC and Disney to fire him in April, arguing that a joke he made about first lady Melania Trump was a “despicable call to violence.”
The controversy came months after Jimmy Kimmel Live! was “indefinitely” pulled from the airwaves in September 2025, following comments that the TV host made about Charlie Kirk’s death two days before.
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Kimmel, who has hosted his show since 2003, returned to the air six days later, and among those he thanked for supporting him amid the controversy was McConnell himself.
“I want to thank the people who don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway,” he said, discussing the conservative commentators and lawmakers who came to his defense.
