Everyone knows the drill. A celebrity stands in front of a blue wall, R.E.M.’s "Everybody Hurts" starts playing softly in the background, and they read something absolutely horrific about their own face. It’s a staple of late-night TV. But there is a weird, meta layer to this whole thing that most people ignore. While we love watching movie stars get taken down a peg, some of the most brutal, unhinged, and strangely poetic mean tweets about jimmy kimmel actually come for the host himself.
Honestly, it’s kinda poetic. Kimmel spent years building a brand on being the relatable guy from Brooklyn (via Vegas) who loves a good prank. But as the political climate shifted and late-night became a battlefield, the tweets stopped being about his "puffy face" and started getting… personal.
The Secret Sauce Behind the Mean Tweets Segment
It wasn’t actually Jimmy’s idea. Surprise.
Back in 2012, Kimmel’s wife, Molly McNearney—who also happens to be the show’s co-head writer—was sitting at the dining room table with their friend Kelly Oxford. Kelly is a legend on Twitter, known for her sharp, often biting humor. She was reading aloud some of the nasty stuff people were sending her.
Jimmy joined in, reading the trash people wrote to him. Molly looked at them and basically said, "This is the show." That was the lightbulb moment.
The first-ever "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets" aired to celebrate Twitter’s birthday. Since then, it’s become a cultural juggernaut. It’s won Webbys. It’s featured a sitting President (Obama, twice). But the real gold is when the show flips the script and forces Jimmy to face the music.
When the Internet Came for Jimmy: The 50th Birthday Roast
Most of the time, Jimmy is the one safely behind the camera or the desk while Chris Hemsworth or Gwyneth Paltrow reads that they have "punchable faces." But for his 50th birthday in 2017, the producers staged a coup.
They gathered a massive group of A-listers to read mean tweets about jimmy kimmel right to his face.
📖 Related: Despicable Me 2 Edith: Why the Middle Child is Secretly the Best Part of the Movie
One of the most famous ones came from none other than Kanye West. Kim Kardashian stood there and read her then-husband’s all-caps rant from their 2013 feud: "JIMMY KIMMEL PUT YOURSELF IN MY SHOES... OH NO THAT MEANS YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN TOO MUCH GOOD P**** IN YOUR LIFE."
It was jarring. It was hilarious. It was peak Kanye.
Other highlights from that special included:
- Stephen Colbert reading a tweet saying Jimmy looks like a "giant turd."
- David Letterman delivering a line about how neither he nor Kimmel is actually funny.
- Halle Berry reciting a tweet that claimed Jimmy’s nose is made of Play-Doh.
Why Do We Love Watching Him Get Roasted?
Psychologically, there’s a term for this: "remediating the celebrity roast."
In the old days, you had the Friars Club where comedians would tear each other apart in private. Then came the televised roasts on Comedy Central. But those felt scripted. Rehearsed. Mean tweets about jimmy kimmel feel raw because they come from "nobody."
There’s a power dynamic shift. A guy with 14 followers can tell a multi-millionaire host that his "show blows brown donkey balls" (a real tweet Jimmy read), and for three seconds, that random person is the star.
It humanizes him. Sorta.
👉 See also: Death Wish II: Why This Sleazy Sequel Still Triggers People Today
By laughing at the insults, Kimmel signals to the audience that he’s "in on the joke." It’s a defense mechanism. If you laugh at yourself first, the bully loses their power. Experts like Bridget Kies have noted that these segments actually help "old media" (TV) stay relevant by "domesticating" the chaos of social media.
The Dark Side: When the Tweets Get Too Real
Not everyone thinks it’s all fun and games.
Over the years, some critics have accused the show of "planting" tweets. People think they’re too polished. Too "perfectly" mean.
However, back in 2015, a guy named George Lelea Jr. found out his tweet about Kristen Bell—where he called her a "bitch"—was actually used on the show. He ended up writing a sarcastic apology to the City of San Francisco. It proved that, at least some of the time, these are real thoughts from real people.
Recently, things have taken a bit of a turn. If you go to the Jimmy Kimmel Live! YouTube channel today, you might notice something weird. A lot of the classic "Mean Tweets" compilations have been set to private or removed.
Why?
The internet is different now. In 2026, we’re seeing a massive shift in how networks handle "legacy" content. Between music licensing issues (that R.E.M. song isn't cheap) and the fact that some of the jokes from 2014 haven't aged well, the "Mean Tweets" library is shrinking. There’s also the political factor. Kimmel has become a polarizing figure. The "mean tweets" in his mentions now aren't just about his "dumb hair"—they’re about policy, late-night suspensions, and intense cultural debates.
✨ Don't miss: Dark Reign Fantastic Four: Why This Weirdly Political Comic Still Holds Up
Breaking Down the Categories of Kimmel Hate
If you analyze the thousands of mean tweets about jimmy kimmel, they usually fall into three buckets:
- The Physicality: Jokes about his weight, his aging, or his "squishy" face. These are the "safe" ones the show loves to air.
- The Career: "How does this guy still have a job?" or "Letterman was better." These hit the professional ego.
- The "Mean" Mean Tweets: These are the ones that never make it to air. They involve his kids, his health, or vitriolic political threats. This is the stuff that stays on the cutting room floor because it kills the "fun" vibe of the segment.
The Evolution of the Late-Night Insult
Late-night TV is struggling. Ratings aren't what they were when Johnny Carson ruled the airwaves. Viral segments like "Mean Tweets" were the lifeblood that kept these shows alive in the digital age.
But as of 2025 and 2026, the "viral clip" era is evolving. People don't want to watch a 10-minute YouTube video; they want a 6-second TikTok. The pacing of the original segment feels almost slow by today's standards.
Kimmel still does them, though. Usually around the Oscars or a big sports event. It’s comfort food for the audience.
How to Handle Your Own "Mean Tweets"
You don't need a late-night show to learn from Jimmy’s approach to public criticism. Whether you're a creator or just someone with a public LinkedIn profile, the "Kimmel Method" for handling hate is actually pretty solid.
- Selective Hearing: Notice how the show never picks the truly "dark" stuff? You don't have to engage with every critic. Pick the ones that are so absurd they're funny.
- The "Everybody Hurts" Strategy: Lean into the absurdity. If someone calls you a "worthless giant turd," own it for a second. It takes the wind out of their sails.
- Context is Everything: Most people tweeting hate are bored. They don't actually know you. Jimmy knows this. He treats the tweets like a script, not a biography.
The "Mean Tweets" segment changed the way we look at celebrities. It broke the "fourth wall" of fame. We used to think of stars as untouchable gods; now we know they're just people who also get told their "feet are small and their nose is made of Play-Doh" by a guy named @PizzaLover69.
If you're looking to dive deeper into the history of the show, check out the official Jimmy Kimmel Live! archives, but be prepared—as mentioned, some of those classic clips are getting harder to find. If you’re a fan of the segment, your best bet is to catch the live specials that air during major ABC events, where the energy is higher and the tweets are usually a bit fresher.
Next Steps for the Obsessed:
To get the full experience of the mean tweets about jimmy kimmel, you should look for the 2017 "50th Birthday" compilation specifically. It’s the only time the "Mean Tweets" segment truly focused on the host for an extended period, and it remains the gold standard for late-night self-deprecation. If you're a student of PR or media, pay attention to the "reaction" shots of the celebrities—the way they laugh (or don't) tells you everything you need to know about their public persona.