When Did the Celebrity Left Get So Cruel?
Kimmel, Cho, Hamill and more bare their teeth in public ... what's next?
There are some lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
Take a famous person’s death. Even those with closets packed with skeletons receive some grace upon their passing.
Osama bin Laden? That’s different. But a politician who made enemies along the way deserves a period of dignity upon their passing.
Unless they’re a Republican, apparently.
Jon Stewart used Sen Lindsey Graham’s passing to rail against elderly politicians. That Comedy Central routine was kind compared to other shows. “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” guest host Ike Barinholtz weaponized Graham’s passing for a few strained yuks.
Ike Barinholtz Taunts Kimmel’s Critics With Attacks on Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnellhttps://t.co/kxc0CJIB7Z
— MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) July 14, 2026
Barinholtz doubled down on his ghoulish yuks the following night.
Jimmy Kimmel guest host Ike Barinholtz reacts to Lindsey Graham’s sister being sworn in, “Darlene said she’ll work very hard over the next several months to support the president. And she pledges to suck his tits even harder than her brother did.” pic.twitter.com/kGBrhPCuwu
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 15, 2026
Others, like Margaret Cho and Michael Ian Black, giddily danced on Graham’s grave.
Isolated incidents? Hardly.
“Saturday Night Live” stars like Michael Che chuckled over a Trump assassination joke. Jimmy Kimmel held up a T-shirt mere weeks ago that read, “Donald J. Trump Is Gonna Kill You.” Kimmel also weaponized the murder of Charlie Kirk last year to attack Trump’s MAGA movement.
Mark Hamill had to walk back a social media meme wishing for President Trump’s death. He only did so after a digital shaming forced his hand.
And let’s not forget the roll call of stars who wished for Trump’s death in one form or another.
That’s a partial list.
It’s easy to say that Trump’s arrival broke people on the Left. What if it’s more than that?
Meryl Streep warned the country about Trump during her 2017 Golden Globes speech. She attacked the new president for allegedly mocking a disabled reporter, a claim that’s possibly untrue. (Very FIne People, anyone?)
And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kinda gives permission for other people to do the same thing.
Was that a prediction or projection?
The latter seems more likely given what we’ve seen over the last decade. The worst part is what might come next. Does anyone think that when President Trump leaves the Oval Office early in 2029, this Hollywood cruelty will go away with it?